by audrey roger
Making piccalilli’s quite a lengthy process but so rewarding in the end. This makes quite a lot, enough to last you for a couple of months.
preparation time: 1 day for the maceration and 45 min-1h for the rest
quantity: makes enough for 4 jars of 270g
you will need:
4 jars of 270g
1 big saucepan
1 medium saucepan
2 big bowls
brine:
100 g natural rock salt
2 L cold water
piccalilli ingredients:
1 medium cauliflower cut into very small pieces
200 g extra fine beans cut into 2 cm pieces
150 g thin bunched carrots cut into thin 2 cm pieces
8 small shallots cut into 4 pieces each
600 ml malt vinegar + 2 & 1/2 Tbsp
1/4 tsp grated whole nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
3 big cloves garlic crushed
85 g golden caster sugar
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 Tbsp brown mustard seeds
30 g Colman’s dry mustard powder
10 g sauce flour
barely 1/2 tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp water
day 1: Make the brine by whisking the salt in the cold water. Separate the mixture in two big bowls. Put the cauliflower pieces and the shallots in one bowl and the carrots and beans in another. Put a plate over each bowl and big books on top of each to weigh the plates down on the bowls. Put aside and leave for a whole day to macerate.
day 2: The next day, take all the vegetables out with a slotted spoon and drain away the brine. Put the vegetables in a big saucepan with 600 ml of malt vinegar. Add the nutmeg and allspice and bring to a boil. Cover and leave to simmer for 8 minutes.
Turn off the heat and add the golden sugar, the crushed garlic cloves, the grated fresh ginger and the mustard seeds. Stir and bring back to simmer. Cover and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes (no longer than that otherwise the vegetables won’t be crunchy enough).
Turn off the heat and separate the vegetables from the vinegar (you can leave the vegetables in the saucepan and put the vinegar in a big bowl for example). Put a lid on the vegetables to keep them warm.
Meanwhile, in a medium sized saucepan mix the mustard powder, turmeric and sauce flour together. Add 2 & 1/2 Tbsp of vinegar and 1 Tbsp of water to the mix. It will make a small yellowish paste. Add a ladel of the warm vinegar and whisk. Bring to a medium heat and keep on stirring until the mixture thickens. Every time the mixture starts to thicken, add a bit more vinegar. Keep on doing so until you have added all the vinegar. I usually let it come to a boil after that and add a bit more sauce flour so that it gets a bit thicker (I do this by putting some of the hot mixture in a small bowl and whisking quickly some sauce flour into it then putting it all back into the original saucepan). You don’t want the mixture to be too liquidy or too thick, just a nice smooth consistency.
When it’s the right consistency, stir it in with the vegetables. Then pour the whole thing into sterilised jars. It will make about a kilo of piccalilli or four jars of 270 g (the usual jars used for sauces or pickles that you find in the supermarkets). Leave the jars in a cool dry place for about three months before you can enjoy them.
tip: to get your jars sterilised the easy way just take the lids off and put them upside down on a tray in the oven at 200 °C for about 10 minutes. You can even do this during the last stages of doing your piccalilli (while you’re doing the paste for example).
