Raise your had if you have never been in front of a bowl of pickled jalapeños. I think practically everyone in my country has been in this situation, and there, we normally serve them with carrots, onions, and even garlic. Now, last Friday we hosted some friends at home from the Motherland. In the menu: Chicken Schwarmas. Very Israeli, I have to say, but, it was a recipe I had had my eye on for a few weeks. It had been shared with me by a colleague at work and it was proofed by a group of reliable trustworthy Jews. Now, if you are interested, here is the source. Look at it, and why not, prepare your own chicken schwarmas at home… DE-LI-CIOUS.
Obviously, when I tasted this recipe, there were some pickled veggies on the side for the shawarmas, and as I was creating my menu, I decided to do my own version of them to serve my guests with something more adequate for the Mexican taste buds, since we are always looking for the spiciness and kick. I think they were good, since the amount I prepared was more than plenty for the 5 people we were sitting at the table, and even though there were some leftovers, it wasn’t much. Now, we are eating them in small servings ‘so we don’t run out of them’, haha !
I share with you what I did. It was really easy, and they go really well in salads, tacos, or whatever you wish to have them with. Remember that you’ll have plenty, so have some containers (preferably glass) to be able to store your lot and eat them little by little. Now, beware, I stored them in the fridge, and I have no idea how long they will last, especially because they’ll be long gone before their shelf life comes to an end.
Ingredients
- 6 stalks (6 stalks) celery
- 1 head (1 head) cauliflower
- 6 (6) carrots
- 1 head (1 head) garlic
- 6 (6) jalapeño peppers
- 500 ml (2 cups) white vinegar
- 72 g (¼ cup) kosher salt
- 50 g (¼ cup) white sugar
- 20 g (2 tbsp) turmeric
- 1 pinch (1 pinch) cinnamon
To Prepare
- Prepare the vegetables: Peel and cut celery and carrots in 1 in. pieces. Clean the cauliflower and cut in florets of also 1 in. approximately. Cut the jalapeño peppers in 0.5 in rounds, and lastly, cut the garlic by half width-wise and without peeling it.
- In a big pot combine the vinegar, salt, sugar, cinnamon and turmeric and bring and heat it up for everything to dissolve. Whenever it starts to boil add the vegetables and let it come to a boil again.
- Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. You will want your veggies to be cooked ‘al dente’, i.e. cooked, but with a certain crunch.
- Let it cool and preferably let it rest for a couple of days. However, should you prepare your veggies last minute -just like I did-, then just let it cool before serving. Store in the fridge.
