Quick Pickled Red Onions
Thin pink half-moons in lime and cider vinegar, edible in twenty minutes and considerably better tomorrow.
Why it works
Salt worked through thinly sliced onion collapses the cell walls in minutes, which is why this needs no heat — the acid then gets straight into softened flesh instead of sitting on the outside of a raw slice. Lime alongside the vinegar is what makes it read as Mexican rather than as a chip-shop pickle, and it is the lime that turns the onion that improbable pink.
Method
- Slice the onions as thinly as you can — a mandoline earns its keep, and the thinner the slice the sooner they are ready. Pile them into a bowl.
- Scatter over the salt and squeeze the slices in your fists for a minute, as though wringing out a cloth. They go floppy and glassy and give up a spoonful of liquid.
- Whisk the vinegar, lime juice and honey together until the honey has gone, then stir in the oregano, cumin and bay.
- Pack the onions into a 500 ml jar, pour the brine over and press them under with a spoon. They are pink and edible in 20 minutes, better the next day, and best of all on day three. Make them first and forget them while the main cooks.
For the toddler
This one is not for them. The brine is sharp and salty, and the honey in it means it should not go anywhere near a baby under one year old. Give them something plain from the same plate instead — avocado, warm black beans lightly crushed with a fork, or a little of the rice or chicken it is sitting beside. If an older toddler reaches for a slice, rinse it under the tap first.
How the toddler notes workChef’s notes
Shallots for a finer pickle, or half a jalapeño for heat that builds overnight.
Bottled lime juice, no cumin, no bay. Four minutes of work, and still pink in twenty.
Black bean tacos, a spiced chicken thigh, or slow pork and rice that needs cutting through.
Keeps 2 weeks chilled and only improves. Spoon the brine over sliced avocado, or into a dressing in place of vinegar.