Nagaimo no acharazuke / Chinese yam pickled in spicy sweetened vinegar

By simply adding taka no tsume red chili pepper to sweetened vinegar, you have another standard marinade for pickles. Fresh nagaimo Chinese yam stays relatively crisp in the marinade, and by Day 2 it becomes a bit milder although still offering some crunch and piquant sensation. As the pickle name's origin -- achar -- suggests, it pairs very well with a number of cuisines beyond Japanese dishes.

Whole recipe (nagaimo only):
60 calories; 2.0 g protein; 0.3 g fat; 12.9 g carbohydrate; 12.0 g net carbs; 2.8 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 0.9 g fiber

1/4 of recipe (nagaimo only):
15 calories; 0.5 g protein; 0.07 g fat; 3.2 g carbohydrate; 3.0 g net carbs; 0.7 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 0.2 g fiber

Marinade whole recipe (with shiokoji, erythritol and stevia):
32 calories; 0.2 g protein; 0.02 g fat; 5.3 g carbohydrate; 3.0 g net carbs; 98 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 0.02 g fiber


<Ingredients>

100g nagaimo Chinese yam (109 g in photo, 93 g skinned)

For acharazuke marinade
4 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp water
1 1/2 tbsp sugar (1 1/2 tbsp erythritol + 4 drops liquid stevia as substitute in photo)
1/2 tsp shiokoji salted rice malt
1/2-1 taka no tsume red chili pepper (slices in photo)

<Directions>
1.

In a stove-top-safe container, mix all ingredients, and bring to boil. 

Cool to room temperature.

2.

Skin and slice nagaimo Chinese yam lengthwise into 2-3 mm thick.
(Here, nagaimo was first cut in half sideways, then sliced lengthwise into squares.)

3.

Put nagaimo into marinade, and refrigerate.

Ready to eat after 4-5 hours.
Best from Day 2.

<Notes>

• Instead of boiling marinade mixture on stove, it can be microwaved to a boil. Quickly boiling once helps dissolve sugar (erythritol) and removes the edginess from the marinade.
• Nagaimo tends to keep its shape when cut/sliced lengthwise. Slicing nagaimo thinly sideways can be challenging.
• Erythritol and stevia are calorie- and net carbs-free substitutes for sugar. Sweetness of erythritol alone is about 70% of that of sugar. Adding 3 drops of liquid stevia per tablespoon of erythritol seems to result in sweetness comparable to granulated sugar.
  
• Any vegetable, usually something solid instead of leafy greens, can made into acharazuke. Photo at right features an example with koshindaikon watermelon radish accompanying grilled sake-lees-marinated salmon.
• Most of the marinade -- especially sodium, according to my measurement -- is not absorbed by nagaimo, perhaps due to mucin (slimy substance coming out of the vegetable). Sodium intake from the marinade is assumed to be quite low with the dish above, yet the story would be different if using vegetables that do not contain mucin.