Pickled Broccoli Stems
酸花菜茎
English: Pickled Broccoli Stems
Chinese: 酸花菜茎
Pinyin: suan hua cai jing
Literal: Sour Broccoli Stems
Most of us cut the florets from a broccoli and toss the stem away, but a Chinese cook would never throw out something edible and nutritious, especially when they’ve paid good money for it. We could all learn to be a bit more mindful of our veg prep; we get into bad habits (myself included) such as tossing carrot tops, potato skins and herb stalks. But traditionally, none of these would have been wasted in Chinese cooking. Some often assume it’s because the Chinese are extremely frugal and extreme poverty is a fresh memory for many, but going back thousands of years, food writers and philosophers in China
talk of respecting nature’s gifts, and wastefulness was immoral. As K.C. Chang writes: “for the peasants, frugality is a necessity, but for the elite it is a pronounced virtue.” And so, turning broccoli stalks into a jar of crunchy pickled greens is easy and Chinese grandmas everywhere will be so proud.
Broccoli is not native to China, and although was introduced to the country during the Qing Dynasty, it was not widely available until the late 80s. Perhaps because of this late introduction, there are few recipes that use the vegetable in Chinese cooking.
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
2 broccoli stem (about 150g)
2-3 cloves garlic - sliced lengthwise
5 slices of ginger
1 red chilli - finely chopped or 1/4 teaspoon dried chilli
200-250ml rice vinegar
1 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar (more if you like a pickle that’s sweeter)
You will also need a small mason jar (300ml).
Method
Cut off the very top of the stem as this will likely be too tough (the most tender part is near the florets). Peel the broccoli stem with a peeler so you remove the thick skin.
Slice the stem into ‘medallions’ and then matchsticks.
Place in a clean mason jar, add in 1 teaspoon of salt, close the jar and shake the salt. Refrigerate the jar overnight.
In the morning, drain off any water that has pooled in the jar. Then add the garlic, ginger, sugar, sesame oil, vinegar and then refrigerate again for 3-6 hours.
Taste and add more vinegar or sesame oil before serving cold. Don’t leave them sitting out for too long, as they will start to turn an off-green colour and lose their crunch.
Note:
- This pickle is sharp and vinegary, and the broccoli remains crunchy. Many Western palettes find both of these a bit too much. So you can boil the vinegar with a 3 tablespoons of sugar if you prefer then pour over the stems, this will sweeten then stems and soften them up a bit.
