Recipe for pickled ginger: an original oriental snack at home

Marinated ginger gave us an amazing and mysterious East. At home, for his pickling, the classic combination of vinegar and sugar is usually used. This product can be found in free sale, but it is better to cook it yourself. And today we want to tell you a simple recipe for pickled ginger at home.

A bit about the color of the snack

Many are interested in the question of why pickled ginger petals, which are usually used in Japanese cuisine, are pink, Fresh root is light yellow. Some believe that this depends on the root crop, since in fact ginger can be both white and pink. The first is called Hedychium coronarium and is most common in the mountainous regions of Tibet and Nepal, also found on the territory of Cuba and Brazil. Red ginger, or Alpinia purpurata, grows in the southeast of Asia, in Thailand and Malaysia. At the same time, these varieties differ mainly in the shade of the inflorescences and in their shape. As for the root, which we eat, it is the same for all species.

In a modern kitchen, its pickled ginger receives its red or pink color solely because of the addition of the dye. E129 is usually added directly to the marinade, which spends some time spicy root.

Note! Previously, in the traditional kitchen, pink color was obtained by adding beet juice to the marinade!

Why paint ginger petals? Exclusively for the aesthetics of the appearance of the dish to which this snack is served. Pink and red colors are very harmoniously combined with other products on the table, but the dye itself does not affect the taste in any way.

Usually, each cook decides whether to stain root crops with the help of E129 or not, but sometimes this is affected by the legislation. For example, if in the United States red pickled ginger is allowed to be sold on a par with white, in some European countries the products containing this dye are banned. And if in European restaurants and there is pink ginger, it is only through the use of beet juice.

Note! In addition to beet juice, you can also use red or rose wine!

For this reason, before decocting ginger at home, think carefully about the color of the snack you want as a result.

Recipes. Ginger white and pink

We turn to the main thing - how to cook marinated ginger at home. We suggest that you consider two key recipes, the first of which will be basic, where the minimum set of products is used, and the second - with the addition of additional ingredients to give the dish a pleasant pink color without chemical dyes.

Classic cooking

We need: 200 g of fresh ginger root, one and a half cup of vinegar( rice), 3 tablespoons of sugar and 2.5 teaspoons of salt.

• First of all we are engaged in ginger. The root is thoroughly washed under running water, peeled, rinsed and cut into thin slices.
  

  Tip! To make the petals very thin and the same, cut the root better on a special vegetable cutter - mandolin!

• Cut the root crop carefully into the bowl, add one and a half teaspoons of salt and mix well.
• Now go to the preparation of marinade for ginger - at home make it quite simple. In a small saucepan combine vinegar, sugar and the rest of the salt. With constant stirring, heat the contents of the container until the salt and sugar completely disperse, but we do not bring the marinade to a boil. Remove the stewpan from the stove.
• Ginger petals are rinsed with water to remove excess salt from them, and dip them into a hot marinade. Leave for 5-6 minutes, after which we return the saucepan to the fire. With a small gas supply, we cook everything about half an hour.
  

  Note! With this "neat" heat treatment, the snack is especially delicate!

• After the specified time, distribute the ginger along with marinade on sterile jars and cover with lids. Let's cool down, screw the lids and send the snack to the refrigerator.

Ginger root, marinated in wine

Now let's figure out how to cook at home pink pickled ginger. According to the recipe, we need: 400 g of spicy root, 50-55 ml of wine( you can take both red and pink, the main thing is to make it dry), 35 ml of good vodka( without flavorings and other additives), 140 ml of vinegar), 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar.

• As usual, at the first stage we are engaged in the processing of ginger: washed, cleaned, rinsed and cut as thin as possible. In this embodiment, the petals are not poured with salt, but simply boiled in boiling water for a couple of minutes.
• Further we are engaged in a marinade: in a saucepan we connect wine, vodka, sugar. We put everything on the fire and heat it until the latter dissolves completely. Do not forget to stir constantly and make sure that the mixture does not boil. We pour in the vinegar. Now the pickle should boil. We remove it from the plate.
• We spread the boiled ginger slices on sterile jars, fill them with hot marinade and cork.

Tips for cooking

1. If the pink color that you got during the preparation of marinade is not bright enough for you, then it can be corrected with the help of beet juice. Add it in small portions and constantly mix to not miss the color suitable for you.
2. For marinating it is better to use young root crops - they have a light very thin skin without wrinkles, and are fairly easy to clean with a simple spoon. The most tender are the lateral processes, while the main part of the root is often coarse with hard fibers in the center.
3. In the role of a sweetener, it may well be sugar, not natural, but natural honey. But just remember that it has a more intense taste, and therefore add it to the marinade in a somewhat smaller amount.
4. Marinated ginger is usually stored in a refrigerator under a tightly screwed lid. Under such conditions, the snack can successfully stand for several months.

The culture of eating

Pickled ginger is not the main dish - it's an appetizer, which often turns out to be on one plate with traditional Japanese rolls and sushi. Spicy petals in this case are used to purify the "impressions" of the taste buds from the previous dish and fully experience the taste of the next.



And what else do you eat marinated ginger? In fact, this snack is quite capable of combining well with other dishes - fish, meat or seafood. But if you just like the taste of pickled ginger, then you can safely submit it to absolutely any product.

Note! In Japan, pickled ginger, sliced ​​in the finest slices, is called "harry."It is always served and consumed in combination with wasabi or soy sauce. If in the process of pickling the root crop was cut with shavings, the ready-made snack will already have a different name - "Benisega".Usually it has a red tint and is presented with meat or with noodles!

But you can serve pickled ginger and somewhat differently - in a salad.

Light salad

To prepare this dish you will need: a small head of Peking cabbage, 1 sweet and sour apple, 1 Bulgarian pepper, a bunch of fresh greens, lettuce leaves, cherry tomatoes, several petals of pickled ginger( to taste), 1 tablespoon of honey andvegetable oil, lemon, salt.

1. Cabbage is washed in running water and finely shredded. We put it in a deep bowl and salt it.
2. The apple is also washed, peeled off of it, freed from seeds and a seed box, cut into thin strips. Squeeze the juice of lemon and sprinkle them with a chopped apple.
3. We thoroughly rinse the greens and lettuce leaves, shake out excess water, dry it on a paper towel and chop it up finely.
4. Cherry tomatoes are cut into 2 parts, the Bulgarian pepper - into thin strips.
5. We prepare the refueling: in a small container we connect vegetable oil and liquid honey, we mix.
6. To cabbage we spread apple, ginger petals, greens, tomatoes, pepper. All mix and season the salad.

Warm salad with salmon

To prepare a salad with pickled ginger and salmon you need: 400 grams of salmon, a few petals of pickled ginger, 2 cloves of garlic, a package of watercress, 50 ml of yoghurt, lime,a teaspoon of honey, 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil, salt, pepper.

1. Cut the salmon fillets into small pieces and add them to a bowl. We prepare marinade for it: we connect yoghurt, finely chopped garlic, a couple of tablespoons of lime juice, vegetable oil, salt and pepper to taste. Fill the fish with marinade and put in the refrigerator for an hour.
2. After the specified time, send the salmon to bake at a temperature of 230 ° C.In a quarter of an hour we take it out of the oven and let it cool down a little.
3. On a large dish lay out the watercress, ginger petals, on top of the pieces of fish. Sprinkle with vegetable oil and lime juice.

As you can see, all the recipes of pickled ginger can be easily reproduced at home and, after spending a minimum of time, make a universal dish that can become both an excellent snack and a savory ingredient for salads.

Cook with pleasure and stay healthy!