I rarely make this recipe myself yet – why bother when my dad makes it in large batches!  There are three elements – the pickling brine, the vegetables, and the sauce – I’ve included details for making each, but until I’ve tried myself I can’t give you the exact quantities of these three elements, but I give a guide on proportions.  The texture of the veg is important – you don’t want soft veg that will just turn in to a mush – I love it when it has a bite, and literally just have it by itself as a snack (although of course it is great with bread and cheese).

Ingredients:

For the brine (makes about 1 pint):

• 1 pint cold water
• 2 oz cooking salt (substitute with table salt)

Vegetables:

• Equal quantities of:
  • Small tomatoes (preferably green, but otherwise largish cherry tomatoes that are fairly hard but not tough skins will do – supermarket value tomatoes work well as they are often a little harder than the premium ones)
  • Pickling onions (i.e. small/bite-size)
  • Cauliflower sprigs
  • Cucumber (ideally fairly firm) – peel and seeds included

For the sauce (makes about 1 pint) – suggest around 0.75 pints per 1lb veg:

• 1 pint malt vinegar
• 1 tbsp English mustard powder (e.g. Colemans)
• 0.5 tsp ground ginger
• 2.5 tsp ground turmeric
• 1.5 tsp paprika
• 2oz plain flour
• 3oz brown sugar

Method:

Chop veg in to equal size pieces

Chop each vegetable in to equal size pieces to your preference – I love reasonable bite size rather than too small.  Make sure the tomatoes are cut rather than left whole.  Cucumber is best sliced in to lengths and cut as long wedges.

Make the brine and lightly pickle the veg in the brine

Add the salt to the cold water and stir until dissolved.

Put the chopped veg in to a bowl and add enough brine to cover.  Leave for 12 hours (but “no longer”).  Rince with cold water, drain and dry (you don’t want to dilute the vinegar too much).

Make the sauce

Mix together all the sauce ingredients in a pan, bring to a simmer and allow to thicken for a few minitues.  Taste, and adjust any of the spices to your taste (e.g. add more sugar if a little sharp, more mustard or paprika to add heat, etc.) – be wary of adding salt at this stage as the veg will have a little saltyness to them from the brine already.

Add the veg to the sauce and gently cook

Put all the veg in to the pan and simmer until just cooked (the veg should still be a little al dente as it will soften further as the sauce cools) – around 5 minutes as a guide.

Spoon in to jars

Put the mixture in to jars – use cling flim or similar to seal rather than metal tops as the vinegar is likely to corrode them.

Enjoy!

Leave for at least 3 days, ideally a week.  It will keep months – just use your common sense!

[Incidentally, I may be making a big batch of the piccalilli soon – if you want some, let me know, so long as you can pick up from Thornbury, possibly also Clerkenwell, Lambeth and Kingston – and I will let you know as and when!]