Thai Ajaad Thaeng Gwa
Sour and spicy cucumber relish
Thai cucumber relish, or “Ajaad Thaeng Gwa” (
The unusual name “Ajaad”, sometimes also transcribed as “Ajat” or “Adschad”, gives a clue to the origin of this dip. The Thai name is based on the term “acar”, which is used for pickled vegetables in Indonesia and Malaysia and has also found its way into Dutch cuisine as “atjar” .
Ingredients for a small bowl
- one cucumber
- 5 tbsp rice vinegar
- 5 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp palm sugar or brown sugar
- 2 coriander roots
- 2 cloves of garlic
- a pinch of salt
- a small onion
- 2cm Ginger (about 4g)
- 2 Thai chilis
- 2 stems coriander
Preparation
First peel the garlic and, for once, do not chop it finely, but bring the peeled cloves to the boil in a small pan together with the rice vinegar, water, coriander roots, salt and palm sugar, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. Then remove from the hob and leave to cool.
In the meantime, quarter half the cucumber lengthways and cut into slices. Then peel the shallot and cut it into thin rings. Then peel and finely chop the ginger. Remove the stalks from the two Thai chillies and cut them into fine rings. Finally, pluck the coriander leaves from their stalks.
Place all the ingredients in a small bowl, pour the contents of the pot through a sieve and mix everything well. I then fished the garlic and coriander roots out of the sieve, finely chopped them and added them to the bowl.
Serve the finished ajaad thaeng gwa with savoury Thai dishes. The dip will keep in the fridge for one to two days.
