Pickled Celery with Lemongrass

Pickle fiends, it’s time to shake it up!!

Too-long dominated by the ubiquitous cucumber & dill combo, the pickling world is ripe for experimentation. There are so many other flavours and ingredients to try out- and when you have your own vegetable garden, it’s easy! Here, we’ve married the tropical, piquant flavours of lemongrass, galangal, ginger & chilli with the crunch of celery. These hot-weather staple spices are abundant year-round in the tropical garden, and are perfect for experimenting with new flavour combos.

If you’ve never made any pickles before, quick fridge pickles like these are a great place to start, as there is no fancy or specialised equipment needed. It’s a simple process of cutting up your ingredients, heating a saucepan of liquid, then putting it all together in jars.

Here’s How to Make It

Top, tail & slice the celery. Fill the pre-sterilised jars loosely with celery. You can cut the celery into any length or shape that you choose- as you can see, I’ve done a mixture. Wash, peel and slice the ginger and galangal. Peel the garlic, leaving the cloves whole. Cut the chilli in half lengthways.

Top & tail the lemongrass then remove the dry brown outer skin. Cut into 2-3 inch lengths then smash with a meat mallet.

In a saucepan, bring all ingredients except the celery to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Next, remove the pot from the heat and let the mixture cool.

Once cooled, take pieces of lemongrass, ginger, garlic, galangal and chilli out of the saucepan and put some in each jar. Next, fill the jars up with celery, pour the liquid into the jars, put the lids on & refrigerate. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours before consuming. Pickles will keep for 4-6 weeks in the fridge.