Sweet/Sour Sumac Pickled Onions Recipe
by James Cooper & Natalie Presten
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Easy
One of Nat’s foundational food memories is her dad’s pickled onions. (Another is liberating a ‘particularly tasty looking and large Spanish onion’ from her parent’s kitchen and eating it in secret in her room over several days, but that’s another story.)
This isn’t her dad’s recipe – which is an absolutely classic British interpretation of a pickled onion. Instead, we’ve given our onions a sweet and sour vibe and vaguely Middle Eastern spin through the use of some fruit molasses and a healthy hit of citrus-sharp sumac. The result is something that is as good pepping up a cheese sandwich as it is cutting through a filled pita.
Ingredients for Sweet/Sour Sumac Pickled Onions
- 500g red onions (about 6 onions)
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 350ml red wine vinegar
- 100ml plus 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sour cherry or pomegranate molasses
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 100g brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon sumac
- 1/2 tablespoon black peppercorns
Method for Sweet/Sour Sumac Pickled Onions
- Peel and slice the red onions, retaining the bottom ends and outer skins of two of the onions (these help colour the brine and bring a pleasing vibrant pinkness to this pickle). Thinly slice the onions into half moons. Place these in a colander/strainer in the sink and toss with the salt. Leave to drain for about 10 minutes while you prepare the brine.
- Place the red wine and balsamic vinegars, molasses, garlic, sugar, sumac and peppercorns into a saucepan and gently heat until the sugar has dissolved and the brine is just starting to simmer.
- Turn off the heat, then add the drained onions. Allow them to soften in the residual heat of the brine, stirring occasionally.
- Place the reserved onion ends and skins into a large sterilized jar, followed by the salted sliced onions from the brine. Pour in any additional brine, making sure the onions are completely submerged. Seal the jar and set aside to cool.
- Because this pickle is partially cooked, it will be ready to eat in a couple of hours, but leaving it in the fridge for a couple of days makes it even tastier. Stored in the fridge, these pickles will be good to eat for at least a month and potentially longer.
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