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September 12, 2013Japanese Pickled Ginger (Gari) RecipeWe are in the season of young ginger. Tender, mildly spicyand gorgeous to look at, the creamy hands are making their way to Asianmarkets. I saw super beautiful ones in Oakland Chinatown last week butrefrained from buying because I was bound for the banh mi photo shoot. I saidto myself, “The next time you see young ginger, buy it to pickle.” Yesterday Isurprisingly found the ginger at my local hippie-dippy market. It wasorganically grown, from Hawaii. The cashier had no idea what it was.
In Asian vernacular, there’s young and old ginger. The youngstuff has paper bits of translucent skin whereas the mature ginger is coveredby tan, dry skin. Most of the year, we’re all cooking with old ginger, whosebite punches up many foods and warms our bodies. Young ginger can be eaten raw– I’ve had Thai fermented sausage with raw ginger, which complements thesausage flavor and functions as an antibacterial.
But there’s only so much young ginger I can eat. My mainmethod of using it is by pickling it Japanese style for what most of us recognize as sushi ginger (gari in Japanese). I enjoy it with sushi (obvious) but also mixed into sushi rice and stuffed into fried tofu pockets. It's a terrific side to grilled oily fish such as salmon or mackerel.
I got the enhanced iBooks version that camewith audio pronunciations of the recipe titles and ingredients, which ishelpful if you’re not versed in Japanese food terms. Otherwise, the regularebook of Asian Pickles: Japan sold onlinewill be fine.
Karen lived in the Japan in the 1990s and writes with an infectiousverve. I bought two hands of ginger, about 1.5 times the amount she called forso I simply did the math for the recipe below. Some things to note:
Karen’s recipes are fun, written without the burden ofbowing to tradition. As a non-native, she gives readers an undaunted take atAsian foodways, opening the door as if to say, “What have you been waiting for?Don’t be silly. Just dive in. I have.” You can’t lose with a $2.99 investment.Along with the Japan e-booklet, there’s also an Indian, Korean, and Chineseone.
Recipe
Japanese PickledGinger
Gari
Yield: About 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients
9 to 10 ounces (270–300 g) young ginger6 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt9 tablespoons unseasoned Japanese rice vinegar2 squares of dried kombu (kelp), each about thesize of your thumbnail (optional)Instructions
Use an inverted spoon to scrape off the thin,paper bits from the ginger. Use a mandoline or very sharp knife to cut theginger across the grain into super thin pieces. They should be nearlysee-through.Toss the ginger with the 1 1/2 tablespoons ofsugar and salt. Set aside for 30 minutes to reduce its harshness.Meanwhile, partially fill a small saucepan withwater. Ready a fine-mesh strainer and 2-cup (.5 liter) glass jar. In anothersaucepan, combine the remaining 6 tablespoons sugar, vinega,r and kombu (ifusing). Set this stuff aside near the stove.About 10 minutes before the ginger finishesmellowing out, start the water pot going on the stove. When the ginger is done,add it all to the boiling water, stir and blanch for 20 seconds to further reducethe harshness. Drain in the mesh strainer but don’t rinse. Shake a few times toexpel water, then put into the glass container. Bring the mixture of sugar and vinegar to aboil, give things a stir to ensure the sugar has dissolved. Then pour into thejar of ginger. Push down with chopsticks or a spoon to submerge. Cool, uncovered,then cap and refrigerate. Depending on the ginger, it may be ready to eat in 1to 3 days. Taste and see. Store refrigerated for months.Adapted from Karen Solomon’s AsianPickles: Japan (ebook edition, Ten Speed Press, 2012)
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| Comments Japanese Pickled Ginger (Gari) Recipe We are in the season of young ginger. Tender, mildly spicyand gorgeous to look at, the creamy hands are making their way to Asianmarkets. I saw super beautiful ones in Oakland Chinatown last week butrefrained from buying because I was bound for the banh mi photo shoot. I saidto myself, “The next time you see young ginger, buy it to pickle.” Yesterday Isurprisingly found the ginger at my local hippie-dippy market. It wasorganically grown, from Hawaii. The cashier had no idea what it was.
In Asian vernacular, there’s young and old ginger. The youngstuff has paper bits of translucent skin whereas the mature ginger is coveredby tan, dry skin. Most of the year, we’re all cooking with old ginger, whosebite punches up many foods and warms our bodies. Young ginger can be eaten raw– I’ve had Thai fermented sausage with raw ginger, which complements thesausage flavor and functions as an antibacterial.
But there’s only so much young ginger I can eat. My mainmethod of using it is by pickling it Japanese style for what most of us recognize as sushi ginger (gari in Japanese). I enjoy it with sushi (obvious) but also mixed into sushi rice and stuffed into fried tofu pockets. It's a terrific side to grilled oily fish such as salmon or mackerel.
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