Achar - appetiser in summer

Achar, what’s that? It looks like salad, but it is actually a pickled dish. In Southeast Asia, it is a favourite side dish especially among the Malays and Straits Chinese.

This weekend, my mother-in-law taught me how to prepare it at home. It’s actually quite simple, and I would like to share the recipes with you.

Ingredient:
½ cucumber
½ carrot
1 slice of pineapple
A few cabbage leaves
Crushed peanuts (depends on your preference, approx 3 tablespoons)
White sesame seed (cooked, depends on your preference, approx 1 tablespoon)

Sauce:
100ml of white vinegar
2 fresh small chillies, sliced into circles (depends on your preference too, I used dried chilli)
1 teaspoon of fresh squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon of brown sugar (depends on your preference too)
A little bit of turmeric ground powder

Method:
1) Cut away the inner part of cucumber and cut it into cubes size, rub it with salt, and rinse it.
2) Cut the carrot, rub it with salt, and rinse it.
Tips: Rubbing with salt to bring out the sweetness and to ensure the vegetable is crunchy enough
3) Cut cabbage and pineapple into cubes size too.
4) Dry all the ingredients
5) Now to make the sauce, boil the vinegar in a pot, together with the chilli, brown sugar and turmeric ground powder.
6) Mix all the ingredients evenly with the sauce, pour in the crushed peanut, sesame seed, and the lime juice.
7) Pour in jar when it is cool, and fridge it overnight.
Tips: Don’t store too long for this dish.

Done! You can serve it with rice or as a side dish with your main course.
Yum… yum… this is so mouth-watering, and it will give you a good appetite in this summer