Cypriot pikla mustard pickled vegetables
“Pikla” is a Cypriot type of pickle, which includes fermented vegetables in a mustard based sauce. Typically the three vegetables included in the “pikla” are: cauliflower, carrot and celery. It is a type of mezze that is served with a lot of food including souvlakia, mix grilled meat but also with vegetables.
The following method was shown to me by Eva, my stepmother. She is the “pikla” expert! The amount of “pikla” produced in the end is quite a lot, so feel free to halve the recipe. We usually make a lot to share between us and we go through it quite quickly as we eat it with most of our meals.
Two things that can be altered based on your preference
1.The chilliness of the sauce
The vibrant yellow colour comes from the two main spices, mustard and curry. Mustard gives the “pikla” the tangy flavour whereas the curry is responsible for the hot spicy (chilli) flavour. Personally I can’t handle too much heat, so the amount of curry used is to my limit. You can add more or less curry depending on your tolerance level.
2.The thickness of the sauce
To thicken the “pikla” you mix flour with the vinegar. The tablespoon amounts of flour used in this recipe were not overfilled and we achieved a runnier texture. If you prefer the mustard sauce to be thicker, then simply add more flour.
The recipe works in proportion to the amount of vinegar used initially to soak the vegetables. So use the following measurements as a guide but the actual amounts may be altered based on the amount of vinegar you use and is then absorbed by the vegetables.
- 650 g carrots, 6 medium size carrots
- 1 small whole cauliflower, weighed 700g after the leaves were removed
- 1 whole bunch of celery
- 2 L white vinegar
- 2 tbs cooking salt, 40g
- 9 tbs plain flour, not heaped was approximately 130g
- 9 tsp mustard powder
- 6 tsp mild curry powder
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Firstly prepare the vegetables to be pickled. Peel and wash the carrots. Cut them lengthwise in half then chop them in 1cm pieces.
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For the celery remove the leaves but do not throw them away. You can easily wash them, let them dry and then chop them up finely to store in the freezer. They are a great addition to stews.
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For the pikla though use ONLY the stalks. The exterior celery stalks are a lot harder than the inner stalks, hence use a peeler to peel it off a bit. Cut the celery in 1cm pieces and the wider ends of the stalk cut in half also, so that they are all similar in size.
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Remove the leaves off the cauliflower. Cut each floret individually and then continue cutting them until they are small enough to fit on a tsp.
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Place all the vegetables in a large enough bowl and then add enough vinegar to cover the vegetables completely. I required 2L of vinegar, you may need more or less depending on how many vegetables you cut up. Allow the vegetables to soak in the vinegar for a day or at least 12 hours.
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Prepare the jars you will use to store the pikla in by washing them with hot soapy water and letting them air dry completely. For this recipe we used three 1.5L jars that were mostly filled.
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Using a slotted spoon, remove the vegetables that were soaking in a separate bowl and make sure you keep the vinegar. Use a small sieve to clean out the vinegar from any pieces of small vegetables left over.
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Use a cup to measure the vinegar remaining and pour it in a large pot. Bring the vinegar and salt to a boil then reduce the heat to a medium/low. Mix in the flour and mustard. The amount of cups of vinegar that was added in the pot will determine the amount of flour and mustard you will add.
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When we made it there were 9 cups of vinegar remaining after the vegetables were soaking in it, so we added 9 tbs of flour and 9 tsp of mustard powder. If for example you had 6 cups of vinegar remaining you would add 6 tbs of flour and 6 tsp of mustard powder. At this stage if you prefer the pikla to have a thicker consistency then add heaped tablespoons of flour.
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Mix in the curry powder followed by the vegetables. The amount of curry you add may vary based on your tolerance levels. Stir everything together and allow the mixture to softly boil before taking it off the heat.
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Spoon the pikla in the prepared jars, let it cool down, seal the jars and place them in the fridge for storage. I can’t give you a shelf life exactly as they seem to be well maintained in the fridge and they don’t last too long before they are consumed anyway.
With the ingredients used above, 3.6kg of pikla were made in the end.
