Middle Eastern Pickled Turnips

Middle Eastern pickled turnips are so simple and easy to make at home. With just a few ingredients and a few days wait, these spicy pickled turnips taste way better than the store-bought pickled turnips. The spicy, salt and sour flavors all come together with the fresh crunch of the turnips. Eat these with hawawshi, sumac fried eggs, Egyptian ta'ameya, ful medames dip, or Lebanese falafel.

What I Love About This Recipe

For one, these Middle eastern pickled turnips have some spice which has added flavor from the red chili peppers. Secondly, I like that the vinegar brine can be adjusted to your taste while making these pickled turnips.

Ingredients Notes

• Turnips: The main ingredient for this recipe is turnips. In fact, you can skip the cauliflower and carrots if you would like. I like the cauliflower and carrots for variety.

• Cauliflower: I use just a normal cauliflower head.
• Carrots: I use regular size carrots, then peel and chop them.
• Beet: We only need one beet for this recipe.
• Spicy Red Pepper: Be careful when adding fresh red peppers, because the spicy level can be different. Fresno peppers are also a great red chili pepper to use.
• Salt: I like using sea salt, however any type of salt will work. The quantity of salt will change depending on the type of salt used.
• Sugar: I use regular white table sugar.
• Vinegar: Distilled white vinegar is needed. Don't substitute any other type of vinegar. The amount of vinegar might need to be adjusted slightly depending on the size of the jar.

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How To Make Pickled Turnips

Prepare the vegetables. Peel the carrots and turnips. Chop the turnips, carrots, and cauliflower into similar-sized pieces.

Blend the spicy peppers and salt together using a food processor. Add the blended spicy peppers and salt to the sliced vegetables.

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Let vegetables sweat. Add 5 tablespoon of salt to the vegetables in a large bowl. Let the vegetables sit for about 2 hours. The vegetables will sweat. Don't discard the liquid.

Add the vegetables and liquid to a large glass jar (or multiple jars). Add around 10 tablespoon of vinegar, 2 tablespoon sugar, and 5 tablespoon more salt.

Pro Tip: Use a clean jar and lid to pickle the turnips. However, the jars do not have to be boiled like you would for shelf-stable preserving.

Boil water. Completely cover the vegetables with boiling water. Taste the vinegar brine and adjust the salt and vinegar as needed.

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Close the jar and keep it at room temperature for 4 days before eating. Once the turnips and vegetables have been pickled (after the 4 days at room temperature), store the jar in the fridge.

Pro Tip: These pickled turnips are not shelf-stable and need to be stored in the fridge once the 4 day pickling process is completed.

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Equipment

• Chef's knife and cutting board to chop the vegetables
• Strainer to wash and drain the vegetables
• Peeler to peel the carrots, beets, and turnips
• Glass container (I use 2 large mason jars that are 10 cups each in size)

FAQs

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