Pickled

Dhaka is a hard place to find good quality food. Things like pickles for example; the pickles available here are those soft yellow bland things that, you know, have to be pickling your liver too. Early in the year there was a party where someone brought some homemade pickles that were amazing. Crisp, tasty and with a discernible spice. Since then I have wanted to try making some. I don't have any of my canning stuff here but I did some research and found that you can make refrigerator pickles that you don't have to officially can and they will last a month or two. After some modification I had a recipe that I was happy with and which resulted in some pretty respectable pickles.

I sanitized some old jars, sliced a bunch of cucumbers and stuffed them into the jars. The pickling solution was the following:
4 cups of vinegar
5 tsp salt
2 tsp of pepper corns
2 tsp of mustard seed
1 Dried chile chrushed
1 tsp of paprika
2 tsp of Oregano
6 cloves of garlic sliced

I brought the pickling solution to a simmer and then poured it into the jars. I put the lids on and let them sit out for 24 hours. Now they live in the fridge but not for long! I would change a few things about the recipe; first I would use 2 cups of vinegar and 2 cups of water, add more salt (up to 6 tsp) and of course I would use fresh dill in the jars (I could not find it here).

I am almost to the point of making an entire sandwich from scratch. I have made mayonnaise, bread, and now pickles. Next I will have to make some cheese. That will have to wait until I am back in Ukiah so I can use unpasteurized milk. I think I want a pickle!