Đồ chua (Vietnamese quick-pickled carrot and daikon)
15 min · 0 g protein · 41 cals / serving
The sweet-sour pickle stuffed into every banh mi: crisp matchsticks of carrot and daikon in a light vinegar brine, ready in an hour and better after a day. A jar in the fridge makes grilled meat, rice bowls, noodle salads and sandwiches taste instantly brighter.
Ingredients
- 3 medium carrots, peeled, cut into thin matchsticks
- 1 small daikon (about 1/2 lb) oriental radishes, peeled, cut into thin matchsticks
- 1 tsp salt
Brine
- 1 cup water, warm
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
Steps
- Toss the carrot and daikon with the salt in a bowl and leave 10 minutes, then squeeze and bend a piece: when it bends without snapping, rinse the vegetables well and drain.
- Stir the warm water, vinegar and sugar together until the sugar dissolves. Pack the vegetables into a 1-litre (1-quart) jar and pour over the brine to cover.
- Close and refrigerate at least 1 hour; the pickles are at their best after a day and keep for 3–4 weeks in the fridge. Lift them out of the brine with a fork to serve.
Good to know
Why salt and rinse first?
The salt draws water out so the vegetables bend instead of snapping, which is what makes them easy to stuff into a sandwich and keeps the brine from going watery.
No daikon?
Use all carrot (about 66 instead of 70), or a mix of carrot and kohlrabi. Ordinary red radishes work too and turn the brine pink.
It smells strong when I open the jar.
That is the daikon, and it is normal. Open the jar a minute before serving and the smell fades; the taste is mild and sweet.
Per
- Calories
- 59
- Protein
- (5%)
- 1 g
- Fat
- (3%)
- <1 g
- Carbohydrates
- (92%)
- 13 g
- of which sugar
- 10 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 459 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 331 kcal goes into the pot and 906 g of ingredients comes out as about 560 g of food: 59 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.