Does anyone have a recipe for Pickled Chickpeas?

Vietnamese Pickled Carrot and Daikon Radish Dilemma?

• I've been trying to make Banh Mi (Vietnamese sub-sandwich). Finally hunted down the "ham," modified the pate, yadada! The only thing that's troubling me is the pickled carrot and daikon radish. I followed several recipe I found online. They pretty much boil down to different proportion of vinegar, sugar, salt, and water. Here's my Dilemma: 1) Why do some recipes use salt and others don't? It says it drains the water out of the carrot and radish before pickling with V&S, but why? 2) Why do some recipes consist water and others don't? I tried one recipe with the water and another one without water. The one without water turned out really sour and really sweet - too potent? The one with the water turned out...not very sour and kind of too sweet. 3) Does anyone have or know a good recipe for a more-sour-than-sweet pickled carrot and daikon radish that's not too overwhelming? =D

• Answer:

  Maybe I can try to salvage your pickle. 1st you have to shred the carrot and diakon thinly. When it says to drain water out means, after you shred the vegetables, give them a squeeze. You need to get a handful of the veggies, give them a some pressure with your hands to get the juice out a bit so they will absorb the pickle juice better. Now for the dressing itself. Some people make it differently from family to family. However, the main ingredients are similar, but slightly different. The ingredients you mentioned are the main ones, however their is one more that the Vietnamese like to use as well, it's called fish sauce (optional) and fresh crush garlic. Here is how I do mine. I don't use the exact measurement, just my taste bud accordingly. I mix sugar, vinegar, a little water and some fish sauce or you could use salt and crush garlic 1 clove. Stir it around and taste it to see if you like a little more of something else. When it taste just right, add your shredded vegetables and leave it in the refridgerator for a couple hours for it to marinate. However, if you want to eat sooner, you can just leave it for half hour. Before you eat, strain it so you can put it in the sandwich and enjoy. Another thing that makes the sandwich taste even more yummy is to toast the bread first. Not just any bread, it has to be the small french bread made just for the sandwich. If you can't find it, I guess you can use whatever bread you have. I hope this helps.