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Nukazuke (rice-bran pickles)
ぬか漬け · Vegetables fermented in a living rice-bran bed
Before refrigerators, almost every Japanese kitchen kept a nukadoko, a crock of salted, fermenting rice bran that someone stirred by hand every morning, and families in Kyoto and Kyushu still pass theirs down for decades. Cucumbers, carrots, daikon or aubergine buried overnight come out crisp, sour and deeply savoury, a little like a gentle sauerkraut. Starting a bed takes about an hour of work and a week of 'feeding' with scraps before it pickles well. The most common mistake is forgetting to stir: left alone, the surface grows yeast and the bed starts to smell sharp and off. Chef's tip: stir from the bottom up once a day with clean hands, and if the bed gets watery, soak up the liquid with a clean cloth rather than pouring it away.
- Total time
- 60 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 20
Ingredients
For the bran bed
- 2 ¼ lb rice bran (nuka)toasted in a dry pan until fragrant, then cooled
- 4 ½ oz salt
- 1 litre waterboiled and cooled
- ⅓ oz kombuin 5 cm squares
- 10 ½ oz vegetable scrapscabbage leaves, daikon peel and carrot tops, for starting the bed
To pickle
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Dissolve 4 ½ oz salt in 1 litre water. Put 2 ¼ lb rice bran (nuka) in a clean ceramic, glass or food-grade plastic tub and gradually work in the salty water with your hands until it feels like damp sand or miso.
15 minStep 2: Bury ⅓ oz kombu and 3 dried red chillies in the bran, then bury 10 ½ oz vegetable scraps. Smooth the top, wipe the sides clean and cover with a lid.
5 minStep 3: Keep at cool room temperature (15–72°F). Every day for 7–10 days, stir from the bottom up, pull out the scraps and bury fresh ones, swapping them every 2 days. The bed is ready when it smells pleasantly sour, like bread dough and yoghurt.
5 minStep 5: Leave cucumber for 8–12 hours, daikon and carrot for about 24 hours (less in summer). Keep stirring the bed once a day.
Step 6: Pull out the vegetables, rinse off the bran, slice and serve. If the bed tastes too sour or wet, add a handful of toasted bran and a pinch of salt. Throw it out if it grows coloured, fuzzy mould or smells rotten.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 15 kcal
- Protein
- 1 g
- Carbs
- 3 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does nukazuke (rice-bran pickles) take?
- About 60 minutes in total.
- How many people does it serve?
- 20 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of cucumber?
- Courgette, same weight (in salads, use young ones).
- What can I use instead of carrot?
- Parsnip or sweet potato, same weight.
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