Ingredients
Cabbage, celery, cucumber, asparagus lettuce, mustard greens, young garlic, chili peppers, green beans, bitter melon, wild rice stems, and garlic scapes, all to taste.
Seasonings
200 g (about 7 oz) fine salt, 150 g (about 5 oz) ginger, 100 g (about 3.5 oz) each brown sugar and dried chili peppers, 50 g (about 1.8 oz) baijiu (Chinese liquor), 15 g (about 0.5 oz) Sichuan peppercorns.
Instructions
1. Prepare a pickling jar, wash and dry it thoroughly, then pour in water and add salt, baijiu (Chinese liquor), brown sugar, dried chili peppers, and ginger.
2. Wash and prepare the ingredients, let them air-dry to remove excess moisture, then submerge them in the pickling jar; seal the jar tightly and pour water into the rim around the lid to prevent air from entering. Change the water in the rim once a week to keep it clean, and for any subsequent batches, also wash and air-dry the ingredients until slightly wilted before adding them to the jar.
3. Once pickled to flavor, it is ready to eat—always use clean, dedicated chopsticks to remove the vegetables, keeping any oil or unclean items out of the jar; replenish the jar with fresh vegetables as you take them out, and add coarse salt as needed to maintain a balanced salty and sour taste. This dish is vibrantly colorful, with a refreshing sweet-and-sour flavor.