I have mention Sichuan pickles a few times over the years. The original recipe is a “quick pickle”, i.e., not fermented, made with thin wedges of spiced, seedless cucumbers that are flash pickled with boiling hot oil and vinegar. They’re one of my favorite accompaniments to Chinese food, and I’ve included them in classes we’ve offered on the theme.

Although I’ve posted the recipe before, it’s worth bringing them back. And, they’re worth making!

Ma La Hwong Gua (“Chili-Sichuan Pepper Cucumber”)

1½ pounds thin, seedless cucumbers
1 tablespoon salt
10 slices ginger, shredded
1 fresh hot red pepper, shredded
½ cup sesame oil
5 dried hot red peppers cut into 1″ pieces
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
5 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar

Remove tips from cucumbers but do not peel. Cut each in half lengthwise and then into four sections. Mix with salt and allow to stand for 30 minutes. Rinse in cold water and drain. Place in bowl and sprinkle with ginger and fresh red pepper. Stir fry sichuan pepper in sesame oil until fragrant. Add dried peppers and fry briefly. Pour hot oil and peppers over cucumbers, then add vinegar and sugar. Refrigerate for a minimum of six hours before serving, mixing the pickles up with the marinade every hour or so to keep them well coated.

I’ve used those pickles in the past as inspiration for making slow fermented pickles. Basically, just your standard pickling cucumbers infused with those flavors. The one flavor missing is the sesame – I’ve tried adding sesame oil to the mix, it just floats on top and doesn’t add any flavor, and I’ve tried using toasted sesame seeds, and they don’t seem to have enough of an impact to change the flavor of these pickles. So, pending figuring something else out, I leave that out these days. Doesn’t make these pickles any less delicious!

Heat a liter of water and two tablespoons of sea salt until you can dissolve all the salt in it, then set it aside to cool to room temperature. One kilo of baby pickling cucumbers. You can do this with other size pickling cukes as well, they’ll just take longer to ferment. Or, you could cut them in wedges and they’ll probably ferment faster. Clean the cukes well and leave to soak in cold water to “refresh” them for about 30 minutes.

A couple of tablespoons each of sichuan peppercorns and dried chili. You can use whole dried chilies, you can use fresh chilies, you can use a mix. A few cloves of garlic cut in chunks and a piece of ginger root, peeled and sliced.

Layer the cukes and the aromatic ingredients together in a container big enough to hold them all, and that has a lid that you can seal.

Pour the cooled brine over them, and push the cukes down into the liquid. Some people advocate putting some sort of weighted plate atop to keep them submerged, I sometimes do that, depends on the size of the container. I find that after a day or two, the pickles in waiting sink into the liquid anyway.

Cover the container and set it aside somewhere in a corner in your kitchen. Room temp – not too hot, not too cold. Every couple of days, check them – first, to “burp” the container as the pickles start to ferment and produce gas, and second, to make sure they’re submerged, and no mold has developed. The last is a rare occurrence, especially if you’ve cleaned your pickles well and your brine has sufficient salt (some people recommend up to three tablespoons in the liter of water, but I, and many others, find that it makes the pickles taste too salty).

At this point, it’s up to you how sour you want them. The longer you leave them at room temperature, the sourer they’ll get. Minimum of two weeks to be fermented, I usually go for 3-4. You can just taste a little of the liquid to see how sour they’re getting (or, grab yourself a pickle, I mean, they’re yours, you’re making them to eat, why not?) Once they’re as sour as you like, move the container into the refrigerator which will basically stop the fermentation – it will continue, but so slowly as to not make a noticeable difference unless you’re letting these pickles sit there for months.

That’s unlikely to happen. Even if I eat just one of these a day they’ll be gone in just over a month!

And just as a note, this is the same process I use for making pretty much any other flavored pickles with small cucumbers. You can use herbs, spices, other aromatic vegetables, all to your heart’s content, in the flavor combinations that you enjoy.