Peter Kuruvita

Green tea & jasmine pickled cucumbers

Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Easy

  • Serves

    4–5

Appears in

Lands of the Curry Leaf

Lands of the Curry Leaf

By Peter Kuruvita

Published 2018

  • About

Several experiences have culminated in this pickle, which I originally created to accompany some torched kingfish. As a vegetarian condiment, try using it to top one of the pulse recipes in chapter 2 — or a salad made of Paneer and chickpeas, tossed with the dressing from the Bhutanese red rice salad. It’s very important to use a pure, unadulterated green tea here, one that is infused with pure jasmine flowers, with no chemical or pesticide residues.

Preparation 15 minutes
Cooking 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 medium-sized telegraph (long) cucumbers, or 1 large English (green) cucumber
  • 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) rice vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons purest-quality jasmine green tea leaves, such as Dilmah Green Tea With Jasmine
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted (see tip)

Method

Peel the cucumbers, leaving alternating green stripes. Slice the cucumbers in half lengthways and scrape the seeds out with a spoon, discarding the seeds.

Using a food processor or sharp knife, very thinly slice the cucumbers, then place in a double layer of paper towel and squeeze gently to remove the excess moisture. Set aside.

In a saucepan, combine the vinegar, tea leaves, sugar and salt and heat gently, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. Cover and leave to steep for 5 minutes, then strain the tea leaves out.

Add the cucumber and sesame seeds, tossing well to combine. Serve immediately.

© 2018 All rights reserved. Published by Murdoch Books.