Acar (Pickled Vegetables)

Mom cooks quite a lot of delicious Nyonya food, though she is not from Peranakan family. For example, she cooks very nice loh bak, assam curry, chai boey, jiu hu char, assam prawn, curry chicken, bubur cha cha, and many more.

Recently I brought up a topic that is related to the food that mom has not cook for very long. I thought about Acar - the pickled vegetables. I volunteer to cook with mom on my off day, so that I can learn how it is prepared. I want to learn mom's home cooked food. I want to pick up her dishes as much as possible.

About Acar, it's a kind of Nyonya pickled vegetables. It has cucumber, long bean, pineapple, carrot, cabbage and chili. Before cooking, some veggies are marinated with salt and rice vinegar, and some is boiled vinegar-salt water. Then the veggies are stir-fried with chili paste and seasoned with turmeric powder, vinegar, salt, sugar and light soy sauce. Once it's done, mix it with grounded roast peanut powder and top with roasted sesame seeds. It tastes sweet and sour, with a hint of spiciness and aroma of roasted peanut. Hmm...and viola!

Mom used to make a big portion of Acar, so we can keep the left over in fridge for the next few days. It can be served either warm or chilled.