Do Chua Recipe

Vietnamese Pickled Carrots and Radish

When you make this, please cut the veggies by hand. If you try and process this with a CuisinArt, you will lose a lot of the essential liquids. Look, it’s a labor of love, but in the end you will have some freshy fresh Vietnamese pickles (do chuan) that will keep in the fridge for months.

I also always “sweat”the veggies before I add all the liquids. I simply cut everything into batons and then salt them. Let them rest and “sweat” for 30-60 minutes. This pulls out those fantastic sugars and liquids from the roots making your pickling juice that much better.

• 2 carrot cut into thin batons
• 1 medium sized daikon radish cut into thin batons
• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 4 tablespoons white vinegar (I like white due to it’s ph value)

I like to taste my veggies, but I definitely want that classic Vietnamese sweet and sour flavor. I generally lean toward the more sour brine from Southern Vietnam.

This Do Chua recipe will give you a very balanced taste of sweet and sour (acidic). It will compliment a properly seasoned meat (e.g. Imperial Grilled Pork) along with any herbs you have going on and that’s probably why it’s always on the Vietnamese table.

This recipe is ripe for adjustments based on your personal taste. This is not a one-size-fits-all “Do Chua recipe”, but it is an extremely solid recipe that is sure to please most Vietnamese foodies.

As a culinary note, I have made this with ribbons of daikon and carrot (which are beautiful) but that involves a Mandoline or some really awesome knife skills. Figure it out.