Pickled radishes

On the same dumpstering expedition that gave me this delicious fruit salad, I salvaged a bunch of slightly withered radishes. There were so many bunches sitting there, but at the time I wasn't sure what I would end up doing with them. In retrospect I should have grabbed them all, because I've recently discovered I'm addicted to:

Pickled radish!

How beautiful are they? And they're so insanely easy to make. When I went searching for a recipe to follow, I had to check a few just to make sure I wasn't being tricked. I didn't really measure out quantities, just added suggested ingredients in quantities I thought would taste nice. This recipe was the most helpful, even though the author opted for quartered radishes rather than sliced.

Basically I started by topping and tailing my radishes (offering my scraps to my housemate's bunnies), then thinly sliced them. In a dry frying pan (i.e. no oil) I toasted about a teaspoon of black mustard seeds and a tablespoon of coriander seeds until fragrant. In a bowl I combined about half a cup of Japanese seasoned rice vinegar with an equal amount of white vinegar, and warmed this slightly in the microwave. Then I added about 4 tablespoons of sugar and one tablespoon of salt, stirring to dissolve completely. I threw the sliced radish in a CLEAN jar with the toasted seeds and poured the vinegar mixture over the top. On went the lid and into the fridge for at least a day.

The colour in the skins leached out and dyed everything a really lovely pink. These are rather tart, and will soften but retain a really pleasant crunch. Serve them on the side of anything, or eat them on their own for a rush.