Mexican Pickled Vegetables (Escabeche)
Ingredients
8-10 servings
- For the vegetables
- Cauliflower 1
- Jalapeños 8-12
- Sweet or mild red peppers 6-8
- Garlic 1 head
- Carrot 1
- White onion 1
- Olive oil 2–3 tbsp, for frying
- Black peppercorns 10-12
- Bay leaf to taste
- Dried oregano 0.5 tsp
- Parsley, cilantro optional
- For the marinade
- White wine vinegar (plain or infused with herbs) 2-2.5 cups (400–500 ml)
- Water 1–1½ cups (200–300 ml)
- Brown sugar 1 tbsp (14 g)
- Salt 1-2 tsp (6–12 g)
Step-by-step recipe
How to prepare the vegetables
For those who love them, Mexican-style escabeche vegetables are a real treat. You can pickle almost any seasonal vegetables that keep their shape during cooking and storage. As a rule, peppers of different heat are used: jalapeño, ordinary chili and small sweet peppers. Also onion, carrot and cauliflower, and often young eggplant and zucchini. The marinade uses white wine vinegar, plain or infused with herbs and spices.
For more heat, add hotter peppers like serrano or habanero. If you want the vegetables without heat, use bell peppers or any other sweet kind.
Cut up all the vegetables. Cut the cauliflower into florets, removing the stem. Cut all the peppers into pieces, seeds and all, preferably on the diagonal. Peel the carrot and slice it into 5-6 mm rounds. Peel the onion and slice it crosswise into rings, ideally so they don’t fall apart. Lightly crush the peeled garlic cloves with the flat of a knife. Mix all the vegetables in a bowl.
Fry the vegetables for a more intense flavor and aroma. Heat olive oil, or any other oil without a strong smell, in a frying pan. Add the mixed vegetables to the hot oil and fry over medium heat, stirring, until they are lightly browned. Don’t let them burn or darken too much, especially the cauliflower. This quick fry usually takes 3-5 mins: the vegetables show signs of browning and the green parts of the peppers take on more of an olive shade.
How to pickle
In this recipe I don’t cook the vegetables in vinegar, as is almost always done. Instead, after pouring in the hot marinade, the jar is sealed and kept wrapped in a warm blanket until completely cool.
Fill the jar with the vegetables. Get a jar with a lid of a suitable size ready: wash it and sterilize it with boiling water from the kettle. Add bay leaf, 10-12 black peppercorns and 0.5 tsp of dried oregano to the vegetables, then stir. Transfer all the vegetables to the prepared jar; it’s fine to pack them in tightly. If you like, add some herbs to the jar: parsley and cilantro work well, use whole sprigs.
Make the marinade. In a saucepan, mix 2-2.5 cups of wine vinegar (400–500 ml) and 1-1.5 cups of water (200–300 ml). Add 1 tbsp of brown sugar (14 g) and 1-2 tsp of salt (6–12 g). Bring the marinade to a boil so the sugar and salt dissolve.
Pour the boiling marinade over the vegetables in the jar and seal the lid right away. Wrap the jar well in a warm wool blanket and leave until completely cool.
Let the vegetables sit. Once the jar has cooled to room temperature, or while it’s still slightly warm, the escabeche vegetables can be considered ready. But for better flavor, put the jar in the fridge overnight.
The vegetables keep in the fridge for quite a long time. How long, I haven’t tested: they get eaten within a few days. While stored, the vegetables in the jar should stay covered with marinade; if the liquid level drops a little, top it up with vinegar, which will preserve them.
Serving
Serve as an appetizer. Most of the time I eat them with young cheese and bread. Serve the pickled vegetables with meat as a side.
By the way, this is a very common addition to tacos and all sorts of dishes wrapped in tortillas.
Calories and macros
130 kcal
Serving ≈ 340 g
- Protein4 g13% of kcal
- Fat5 g40% of kcal
- Carbs13 g47% of kcal
100 g39 kcalProtein 1.1 gFat 1.5 gCarbs 4 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.