▼

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

rakkyo

In Japan it is the beginning of pickling season. In the markets, you can find plums to make umeshu (plum wine) or umeboshi (pickled plum), rakkyo (shallots) and shoga (ginger) to pickle. I really like rakkyo, so I was interested in trying to make my own and was surprised at how easy it was to make. It was actually similar to making takuan (pickled daikon(long white radish)).

Buy your rakkyo. If you are lucky, you can find them already cleaned. Just rinse and drain.

Make your sauce. This is the sauce measurements that was on the bag of rakkyo.

For 1 kg. of rakkyo (the amount inside the bag):

350cc vinegar
250g sugar
60g salt
60cc mirin (sweet rice wine)
Heat these ingredients until the salt and sugar melt. Cool mixture.

Put your rakkyo in a glass or plastic jar. Pour the cooled mixture over and wait 20 days before eating.

NOTES: I put a teaspoon of chili pepper in there too to give it a little kick!

Stay tuned...I think it's going to be good!
at

12 comments:

  1. Jann9:00 AM, May 22, 2007

    hummmmmmmm.....how do you eat this/How much kick is there?

    ReplyDelete
  2. K and S9:03 AM, May 22, 2007

    We usually eat these with rice, Jann, but I'm sure you could just serve them with beer. :)

    Take care.
    Kat

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:08 AM, May 22, 2007

    Ooh! My mother makes something similar to this, except she does does garlic in a dark soy sauce pickle which is much too strong for me. I think I'd much prefer this :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. K and S11:37 AM, May 22, 2007

    Thanks! What is it called in Korean, Ellie?

    Take care.
    Kat

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous8:03 PM, May 22, 2007

    I saw rakkyo often but I am always afraid to try one. :) Is it spicy like a garlic?

    ReplyDelete
  6. K and S9:10 PM, May 22, 2007

    Do you mean the taste, Sue? It tastes like onion, with a sweet/sour flavor, the chili pepper just gives it some heat. But the rakkyo doesn't have a bite like some onions do.

    I hope I explained this okay.
    Take care.
    Kat

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous5:01 PM, May 23, 2007

    Thanks Kat!

    ReplyDelete
  8. K and S6:09 PM, May 23, 2007

    Sure, Sue, no problem!

    Take care.
    kat

    ReplyDelete
  9. Unknown12:28 AM, February 27, 2009

    Bought a jar of rakkyo, but I'm looking at this recipe because it tastes wrong - spicy enough, but too clean tasting and not sweet enough. What gives the sauce the red tint? I think this might be important to fix it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. K and S12:10 PM, February 27, 2009

    Do you mean that my recipe is too clean tasting, Guamer? If you are looking at this posts photo, the tint is brownish because of the sugar I used.

    Take care.
    Kat

    ReplyDelete
  11. Unknown12:26 PM, February 27, 2009

    Sorry, my wording. No I meant the storebought stuff tasted wrong. Thanks for the recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  12. K and S12:45 PM, February 27, 2009

    No prob, Guamer, the reddish tint in your rakkyo make be made by adding red shiso (perilla) leaves or food coloring. If you need to sweeten up the taste, then put the sauce into a pot, add the sugar to your liking, bring to a slight boil making sure that the sugar melts and then cool the sauce and return the rakkyo (scallions). Hope this helps.

    Take care.
    Kat

    ReplyDelete

We appreciate your comments, we don't appreciate spam. All comments will be looked over. Hurtful, rude or ones that link to advertisements will be deleted.
Thanks for stopping by!