Pickled red cabbage

Basis is from the following: http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/496731/pickled-red-cabbage

Ingredients

• 1kg (2¼lb) red cabbage, cored and finely sliced
• 2 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 bramley apple, peeled, cored and finely sliced*
• 4tbsp salt
• 2 x 568ml bottles distilled malt vinegar
• 1 cinnamon stick, lightly crushed
• 1tbsp cloves, lightly crushed
• 1tbsp coriander seeds
• 1tbsp ground coriander*
• 2 tbsp ground cumin*
• 1 tbsp chilli flakes*
• 6.5 level tbsp muscavado sugar

You'll also need: Sterilised jars with vinegar-proof lids - hard to know how many, but these are 2 x 750 ml and 1 x 500 ml jars

The items with asterisks against them are my additions.

Method

1. Place the finely sliced red cabbage and onion in a bowl and sprinkle over the salt. Mix well. Loosely cover the bowl and leave the vegetables overnight.
2. Put the finely sliced apples on a baking tray and sprinkle some lime juice and a some of the muscavado sugar over the apples
3. Wash the cabbage and onion in a colander under running cold water to rinse off salt. Drain well and pat dry with kitchen paper.
4. Put the cabbage and onion on the bottom shelf of the oven, the apples on the top shelf and put the oven on for 20 minutes on minimum, remove and let both cool right down.
5. our the vinegar into a pan, add the spices, and bring to the boil. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the granulated sugar. Leave the mixture to cool.
6. Pack the vegetables into cold, sterilised jars, pressing down well. Pour over vinegar, ensuring that each jar has some of the spices and that the vegetables are totally covered with vinegar.
7. Seal the jars with vinegar-proof lids, label and store in a cool, dark place for at least 2 weeks before using. It will keep for up to 3 months, stored in a cool, dark place. Keep jars in the fridge once opened.

Vinegar on the go with the spices in added the chilli flakes and sugar after removing from the heat once boiled.




Cabbage and apples having been dried out in the oven.


The finished product - at least 2 weeks.

This was a real shot in the dark; I had bought the red cabbage and apple to do braised cabbage and apple, but realised that it wouldn't go with anything I was going to cook (yep, I really plan my cooking week)! So as I had most of the ingredients needed I thought I'd give it a go; I had to buy the big jars and work out how to sterilise the jars - which gave rise to a fat, grey-haired balding guy roaming Tesco's trying to find Milton sterlising tabletsl I asked a young assistant who didn't know and roamed a bit mroe, but eventually got them. It has to be said, this is a lot of effort - the 30 minutes prep time the original says mat be true for someone who knows what they are doing, but it's more like a couple of hours for me spread over a weekend - and I've still got to clear some dark space for the jars. But it does smell good!