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Waitrose

Piccalilli

Traditionally, all the vegetables in a piccalilli are salted, but I find the flavours are punchy enough, so I skip this stage. Substitute courgette for the cucumber and runner beans for French beans if you wish. It’s delicious with ham, cold chicken, Cheddar or the game terrine.

Preparation time:
30 minutes
Cooking time:
25 minutes to 30 minutes
Total time:
55 minutes to 1 hour 60 minutes
Makes:
 1.7kg

Ingredients

  • 700ml Malt vinegar
  • 2 tbsp Coriander seeds
  • 500g Cauliflower, broken into 3cm florets
  • 2 Onions, peeled and chopped
  • 3 tbsp English mustard powder
  • 3 tbsp Plain flour
  • 1 tbsp Turmeric
  • 2 tsp Ground ginger
  • 150ml Cider vinegar
  • 100g French beans, trimmed and cut into 1cm slices
  • ½ Cucumber, quartered lengthways and cut into 1cm slices
  • 2 Garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
  • 200g Granulated sugar

Method

  1. Place the malt vinegar and coriander seeds in a large preserving pan and bring to a boil. Add the cauliflower and onion and simmer for 5 minutes until slightly softened but still crunchy. Meanwhile, put the mustard, flour, turmeric and ginger in a small bowl and gradually whisk in the cider vinegar until smooth. Add the remaining vegetables, garlic and sugar to the pan and stir over the heat for 2–3 minutes until the sugar has dissolved. Drain over a large bowl to collect the vinegar.
  2. Put the mustard mixture in the pan and bring to the boil. Gradually add the drained malt vinegar and simmer for 10 minutes, until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Add the drained vegetables and take off the heat. Spoon into sterilised jars – if they’re not kilner jars, cover them with plastic discs and elastic bands rather than metal lids, which can sometimes react with the vinegar.