Cucumber Relish

Ingredients

Makes 750ml

• 2 medium sized cucumbers

• 1 medium onion

• half a red pepper

• 50g salt (less if doing quick version)

• 200ml cider vinegar

• 120g soft light brown sugar

• 2 tsp mustard seeds

• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

• 1 tbsp corn flour

• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Method

Ok there are two ways of doing this depending on whether you want it now for a meal in a day or so or whether you want to make a batch and preserve it.

They both start the same so you will need to first off scrape out the seeds of the cucumber, discard them then chop the rest into very small chunks. You are looking for them to be under 1cm bits. Now chop the onion and red pepper to the same size.

Put all the veg into a bowl and now it changes, if you are looking to preserve then mix in 50g of table salt, cover and refridgerate over night to draw out a lot of the water. For quick just scatter over the salt and leave for an hour. It won't draw out as much water so needs to be done to eat within a few days otherwise the amount of water in the cucumber will wash out the flavour of the relish.

Once done remove from the fridge and thoroughly wash the veg to get rid of the salt. The best way is to keep tasting a bit until it is saltly but in a nice way rather than tasting more like sea water.

Now on the hob pour the cider vinegar and sugar into a large saucepan and bring up to a simmer to let the sugar dissolve. Once that is done add the mustard seeds, dill and cayenne pepper if using. Then add in the cucumber, onion and pepper.  

When it starts to simmer again using a spoon put some of the hot liquid into a glass with the corn flour and mix before pouring into the saucepan. This just makes it easier to stir and not get any lumps.

Simmer for 5 minutes with the lid off then remove from the heat. If keeping for a while then pour into sterilised jars or you are going to eat it fast any clean jar will do. Seal and allow to cool before storing or digging in.