Home-Preserved Radish . 自家醃菜脯

 Home-Preserved Radish . 自家醃菜脯

I seldom buy preserved radish from the store as I prefer to make it my own. Preserving Radishes is not difficult, but you get to have bright sunshine and good patience. My hubby does not eat preserved radish before I made it at home, and now we could have pan-fried eggs with chopped home-preserved radish on our dining table. And relatives and friends who have tried the one I preserved said, they could tell the difference between the store-bought preserved radish and my home-preserved one, and they said it was yummier....hahaha, I agree.

That's very true as I could customize it whatever I want, and it is truly to my taste. And I do it with all my heart.

我甚少在外買菜脯，因為我愛自己醃製。醃菜脯不困難，只要遇到有好陽光的日子和有醃漬需時長的耐性。以前外子不吃醃漬食物，但自從我家自家醃菜脯後，菜脯煎蛋就加進我家的菜單上。吃過我家的菜脯煎蛋的朋友都說吃得出分別，是可口得多呢！哈哈哈，這點我認同，因為我知我味，醃的菜脯當然更合我心意。

我做任何事都全心全意，也相信做任何事用心做就好。

                Preserved for 3 and half months                  

 醃製了三個多月

Preserved for more than 4 years

  醃製了四年多    

Home-Preserved Radish

Ingredients：

White Radish, cleaned and trimmed  2400g (approx. 3 pc)

Coarse Sea Salt  240g

Raw Sugar  24g(optional)

Method:

1. Wash white radish with cold boiled-water, trim off the head, but keep the skins on. For dry and sunny seasons, you may preserve the radish in whole, but in seasons with higher humidity, it is better to cut radish into 4 pieces from top to end

2. Leave radish to dry for a while. Divide the salt amount into 20 portions, each portion weighs 12g; add 2g raw sugar into each of the 12 portions and keep 8 portions plain. Apply 2 portions of plain salt onto the radish one by one, let extract the water out and wipe dry

3. Put the radish under the sun until sunset

4. Take the radish back indoor, and rub another 2 portions of salt on the radish again. Put weight on radish to let extract water and the astringent taste, keep in the fridge every night.  Repeat the same for about two weeks, but use double-portion of salt on the 2^nd and 3^rd as well. Putting weight on radish for a week is good enough.

5. Radish should be dry enough after two weeks, apply salt once again, then keep radish in a sterilized air-tight jar, cover and preserve for three months before use.

Cooking Tips:

1. Use boiled-water for all preserved food to prevent molds

2. Adding a little sugar into the salt could make the taste of the preserved radish tastier, but it is optional.  Apply double portions of plain salt on the radish for the first three days for extracting bitter water from the radish

3. If fond of plain salty flavored radish, no sugar needed

4. Aged Preserved Radish gives better taste, so it could be kept for long years if in good condition

自家醃菜脯

材料： 

白蘿蔔，洗淨及去頭   2400g(約 3 條)

粗海鹽  240g

原糖  24g

做法：

1. 白蘿蔔用涼開水洗淨，無須去皮。秋冬天氣乾燥，可原條去頭醃曬，春夏潮濕，如要醃曬菜脯，要挑晴天，及最好將蘿蔔去頭後一開四，直切，易於曬乾

2. 蘿蔔先略風乾。把鹽量分成二十份，除前三天共八份外，餘下十二份各加入2g原糖。第一天，風乾後，用手逐條蘿蔔抹上鹽，共用淨鹽兩份，待出水3小時，抹乾

3. 將蘿蔔放在太陽下曬至日落

4. 把蘿蔔收回室內，再次均勻地上兩份淨鹽，上鹽後在蘿蔔面放上重物，並放冰箱，待蘿蔔出水去澀，再抹乾。每天重複日曬晚醃步驟約兩星期或至蘿蔔夠乾身，第二及第三晚也抹上兩份淨鹽，其餘晚醃用一份加了糖的鹽。壓重物則約一星期即可。

5. 兩星期後，蘿蔔應夠乾身，再上一次加了糖的鹽，即可放入已消毒的密實瓶保存，三個月後即可食用。

提示：

1. 用涼開水清洗要醃曬食材，可減少發霉機會

2. 鹽漬物加入少許糖，食味更有層次。首三天共四次上雙份淨鹽幫助蘿蔔脫出澀水

3. 如醃純咸味菜脯，不用加糖

4. 菜脯醃得愈久愈帶醇香，但一定要儲藏恰當