April 22, 2013 | 2 Comments

Egyptian Recipe for Pickled Cucumbers, 3 ways! {Kheyar Mekhalel}

My grandfather spent many hours in the kitchen pickling all sorts of vegetables. And at lunch time, when the family came together for the main meal of the day, my grandpa was the last one to join us because he took his time putting together small dishes of the different salads and pickles he had prepared and proudly shared with all of us. As we waited at the table, I heard the sounds and saw the smirks of others, frustrated and rushing him. But I could care less. I knew the longer he took, the more interesting dishes we’d have. 🙂

The pickling process could be complicated if you’re pickling with the aim of preserving your vegetables over a long period of time. That’s not the goal of this recipe. This is a quick way to pickle cucumbers, store them in your fridge and enjoy them for about a week, assuming you can resist finishing them sooner! This is really three recipes in one as we’ll prepare three different flavors: plain, spicy and dilled.

Serving Ideas: As a condiment dish with any meal when you’re craving a crunchy, salty, vinegary taste!

Servings: 9-12 servings

Ingredients:
18 mini cucumbers
6 garlic cloves, peeled and slivered
9 Tbs white vinegar
3 Tbs salt
2 Tbs fresh dill loosely chopped
1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes
Water, about 3-4 cups

Directions:
~ Start with six cucumbers. Cut them into 3/4″ slices at an angle and put them in a food storage container.
~ Repeat two more times and now you have three containers with 6 cucumbers in each.
~ Boil the water.
~ To each container , add a third of the garlic, 3 Tbs of vinegar and 1 Tbs of salt.
~ In one container, add the dill. And in another one, add the chili flakes.
~ Your three variations are almost here!

~ Add enough water to each container to cover the cucumber.
~ Let the water cool. Cover the containers and refrigerate them.
~ Two days later, the pickles are ready! We usually can’t wait that long and start eating them the next day!