Snowman Overnight Refrigerator Pickles - Pickled radish and cucumbers
To make our overnight refrigerator pickles more appetizing, we can carve the radish into a cute snowman, and cut the cucumber into lovely little Christmas trees. Soaked in the sweet and sour brine overnight, these no-cook refrigerator pickles are so crunchy and loaded with flavors.
Equipment
- glass jar with lid (You can use a 16-oz mason jar)
Ingredients
- 1 daikon radish (washed and peeled; Or 8 red radishes, washed. )
- 1 carrot (washed and peeled)
- 2 celery sticks (cut into 3-inch pieces)
- 1 cucumber (washed)
- 3 cloves garlic (peeled)
- 2 slices ginger (peeled, and cut into coin-size slices)
- 2 stems cilantro (cilantro is sold in bunches of several stems, we will use about 2 stems of cilantro with all the side branches,.)
- 2 dried or fresh chili peppers (optional if you don't like spicy food)
- 5 black beans (optional; For making eyes for the snow man)
- 1 tbsp salt (for marinating)
Instructions
- Cut the daikon radish crosswise into 4-inch pieces. (Optionally, take a small knife to carve 2 balls, so that we can use them to make a snowman shape.) Or you can simply cut the radish into some ½-inch wide strips. Cut the carrot into ⅛-inch round slices. (Optionally use a vegetable cutter to cut out some flower-shape carrot slices.)
- Cut the cucumber into 3-inch pieces, then cut each piece of cucumber lengthwise into halves. (Optionally, take a small knife to each half of cucumber into a Christmas tree.) Or you can simply cut each half lengthwise down the center to get some cucumber quarters.
- Place the daikon radish, carrot, cucumber, and celery sticks to a large bowl, sprinkle 1 tbsp of salt over the vegetables, rub the salt evenly on radish. Set aside to marinate for 30 minutes.
- 30 minutes later, drain and rinse the vegetables with clean water. Optionally, use toothpick to make the daikon radish into a snowman. I used 2 black beans as the snowman's eyes. You can also use sesame seeds.
- Place 2 stems of cilantros in the bottom of a 16 oz glass jar. Place the radish snowman, garlic cloves, ginger slices, chili peppers, and salt marinated vegetables in the jar.
- Add all the ingredients for for pickle brine (see ingredients list above) into a bowl, stir with a spoon until the sugar is dissolved.
- Pour the pickle brine into the glass jar until all the vegetables are completed covered in the brine. Close the lid.
- Refrigerate the pickles overnight then enjoy. Finish within 1 week.
Video
Notes
1. Shaving a daikon radish into a ball is actually easier than I thought! You just use a small knife or peeler to keep peeling of the edges of the cube until it forms a ball.
An even easier method is using red radishes to substitute the daikon radish. A red radish can turn into a white ball immediately after you peel off it’s skin. You will just make a smaller snowman with that.
2. I used 5 black beans for making eyes and buttons for the snowman. You can also use black peppercorns. Use a small carving knife to carve a hole on the radish before inserting the eyes and buttons. The hole should be half the size of a black bean, and it should take you some pressure to press the black bean into the hole, otherwise the black bean might fall out later.