Pickled and lacto-fermented veggies are such a simple way to add some freshness and a little tangy kick to pretty much any dish. For the last year my fridge has had pretty much a whole shelf dedicated to jars of various veggies, some preserved by pickling and some by natural fermentation. I’ll leave the fermentation with kimchis and sauerkrauts for another time and write this post on the super easy method of pickling. Beetroot, carrots, cauliflower and of course little baby cucumbers (aka pickles) are the usual players, but there is one simple ingredient of which a dash in its pickled form makes its way on almost every plate – red onions (the recipe below), which are just lovely with their crisp and freshness and bring a lovely pinkish hue to any salad or Buddha bowl. You can follow the same ratio of pickling ingredients for any veggie you want to pickle, and play around with different types of vinegar as well. And in case you like to have pink on your plate as much as I do, try the following: filling an empty sterilised jar with one sliced beetroot, then add for example some cauliflower or any other veggie of a lighter shade, pickle it and in a day the intense color of the beetroot will completely change the shade of the whole content of the jar to a lovely pink color.

Pickled Red Onions:

• One large sterilized mason jar
• 5 red onions
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• A teaspoon of peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp honey
• Bay leaves (optional)
• A pinch of nigella seeds (optional)
• A sprig of dill (optional)

Method:

1. Simply slice up the onions into round clusters of their rings and stuff them in the jar, packing it quite tightly.
2. Heat up the vinegar, water, salt and pepper till nice and hot (60-70 degrees Celsius).
3. Remove from heat and add the honey and the rest of spices if using, mix well and slowly pour over the onions. Close the jar and let it rest overnight.
4. Once opened store in the fridge and no rush with consuming it, the vinegar will preserve the onions well so no need to worry about them going off.