Kyoto Red Shiso Pickled Eggplant and Cucumber

What you need

• 200 g (7 oz) Japanese eggplant, sliced 3 mm thick
• 100 g (3.5 oz) Japanese cucumber
• 50 g (2 oz) myoga ginger buds
• 10 g (1/3 oz) fresh ginger, scraped clean
• 8 leaves red shiso leaves, green shiso works if red is unavailable
• 9 g sea salt, plus a pinch for the soaking water
• 10 g sugar
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) red ume plum vinegar

Method

Restated from the original video

1. 1

   Stir a pinch of salt into a bowl of cold water.

2. 2

   Trim the eggplant, halve or quarter it lengthwise and slice into 3 mm pieces. Drop the slices straight into the salted water so they stay pale.

3. 3

   Soak the eggplant for 20 min.

4. 4

   Slice the fresh ginger thinly, blanch it in boiling water for 30 seconds, then drain and rinse under cold water.

5. 5

   Cut the blanched ginger, myoga and shiso into thin slivers.

6. 6

   Halve the cucumber lengthwise, remove the seeds with a teaspoon and slice into 3 mm half-moons.

7. 7

   Drain the eggplant well and put it in a dry bowl with the cucumber, ginger, myoga and shiso.

8. 8

   Add the sea salt and massage the vegetables for 2-3 min, until they look evenly coated and start to release liquid.

9. 9

   Press plastic wrap onto the surface, set a plate on top and weigh it down. Refrigerate overnight.

10. 10

    Squeeze the vegetables hard by the handful and throw away the liquid.

11. 11

    Put them in a zip bag with the sugar and plum vinegar and massage until the color turns a deep pink-purple.

12. 12

    Press out the air, seal the bag and lay it flat in a container. Refrigerate for at least 2 days.

13. 13

    Drain, squeeze lightly and move to a clean airtight container. Serve small portions with rice and keep refrigerated up to 1 week.

Imported from sudachirecipes.com. Recipe Grab pulled out what you need to cook it; the video stays where its author put it.