Dua Cai Chua (also known as Pickled Mustard Greens) is traditional dish which usually appears in Vietnamese’s daily meal. It brings the unique feature of Vietnamese cuisine and often is served with salty dishes such as meat stew, fried fish,…
Overview
Dua Cai Chua is simpler to prepare than you may imagine. It’s a Vietnamese staple and should have in your lovely kitchen; It serves as a great to contrasting taste to many salty home-cooked dishes such as braised catfish in claypot (cá kho tộ), caramelized pork and hard boiled egg (thịt kho trứng), caramelized pork belly with lemongrass and shrimp paste sauce (thịt kho ruốc sả) or fried fish (cá chiên) – you can finish off the list. The irresistibly crunchy and tart Dua Cai Chua is perfect with almost any rich and savory dishes. On a cold day like today, instead of eating it straight from the jar, you can saute it with diced garlic for a nice warm dish; make soup or curry out of it, or braise beef shank with it.
How to make
The main ingredients to ferment the mustard greens are just salt, sugar and the omnipotent sunlight. It is simple and allows the natural flavor and color of the greens to come through. It’s effectively preserved the greens as well. The preparation of dưa cải chua takes no more than twenty minutes but the process of fermentation takes about a week before it’s ready to serve. This fermentation process can be sped up by sun drying. Dua Cai Chua can be kept in the fridge for a few months.
