One of the best things that you can have a side dish is pickles or  “toursi/τουρσί” as it is being called in Greek. You know about and you see them more or less every time on the super markets.

I always used to have toursi at home because my father used to make it in a bowl by himself. Its not difficult to make and its really enjoyable and tasty.

There are different kind of pickles depending where you are coming from, for example in USA and Canada they like to do cucumbers, while in Greece , Turkey and generally the Arabic countries I think we are more on green peppers and other vegetables.

The process is basically really simple, you leave all the vegetables in a lot of vinegar and let it the vegetables receive it for some days.  But who am I to talk about those old and traditional recipes.

Well, recently we got my father as a present a laptop so we can communicate a little bit more easily, and as a first job I made him write the recipe about toursi …the pickles recipe.  So here it is in his own style…the recipe for pickles as my father send it in his first email to me… 😀 (obviously translated…)

How to make Pickles – Toursi

• 600 to 700 grams of green peppers
• Apple vinegar (portion depends on the size of your bowl)
• Water
• Pepper/Salt
• Ginger

We can replace them with other vegetable or put them all together if we have space.

For example cauliflower, cabbage etc.

• CAULIFLOWER. Wash and cut it and add it in the jar
• CABBAGE. Cut the leaves Wash and cut it more or less as our palm
• BULBS. Small onions like the ones we use for the stew, just clean them and add them inside .
• GHERKINS. If you find small  (approximately 10cm)  add them inside. Only clean the top and the bottom place. After 5-6 days remove them and cut them in fat slices like in the salad. Add a little olive oil and eat them.

Lets see now how can we make it.

• Rinse all your vegetables and place all the vegetables in a bowl, add the salt and toss well. Allow to steep for 4 hours.
• Squeeze excess liquid in batches with your hands and place in other bowl with enough vinegar to cover the half of the bowl and add water in the rest.
• Throw in the pepper and a slice of Ginger. Close the lid and shake to make sure it goes everywhere.
• Open up again and add a teaspoon of olive oil.
• Close the lid and seal it for 7 days. Afterwards it should be ready to taste.

Seal with lids and place in fridge. Keeps well for 6 weeks.