How to Make Do Chua (Vietnamese Pickled Carrots & Daikon)

Do chua in Vietnamese translates into “sour stuff”, but I think this pickled dish is a bit more sweet than sour. People usually eat this with their banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) or placed atop bun cha Hanoi (recipe shall be posted later). If you’re using this to put in your sandwiches, I would julienne the carrots because they are more suited for the shape of the baguette. But since I used this for the latter, I cut them into flower shapes.

The recipe for this is really easy and based on your preferences. In Vietnamese cooking, the measurements are not exact – you can’t just add a ½ cup of this or a tbsp of that and expect it to taste right. When I was younger, I was really annoyed at this because every time I would ask my dad for a recipe, he would just tell me to add some of this or some of that. But as I grew up, I began to value the magic of tasting as you go and tweaking something till it fits your needs. So this recipe is just a rough guideline; I didn’t measure anything when I made this. Feel free to add more sugar if you want it sweet or more vinegar if you like it sour.
For Do Chua you will need:
2 Large Carrots
1 Daikon
3 tbspn of sugar
1 tsp salt
½ - 1 cup of white vinegar
Water
To cut the vegetables:
This is a little bit labor intensive, but not as much as you’d think! My roommate thought I cut each slice of carrot into a flower, but I told her I wasn’t that anal!
Peel the carrots and daikon and cut each carrot/daikon stalk into 2 or 3 manageable pieces. Take one piece and make a shallow vertical cut into the side, make another shallow cut that intersects with that one so that you end up cutting out a long piece of the carrot. Do this five times until you get something resembling this picture:


Once you have cut out the sides, take your knife and start slicing the carrots/daikon. I did mine about 1/8th of an inch thick, but you can do it whatever size you like. I prefer mine to be a bit thicker to maintain crunch.
After you finish slicing all the vegetables, place them into a bowl. Evenly coat them with the sugar and salt, then add your vinegar. If you have too little vinegar, you can add a bit of water to fully coat the vegetables.
Taste your vinegar mixture! Adjust to your likings=)

Let them refrigerate for a few hours or preferably overnight. You can store them in a jar if you’d like, but I just put mine in a clean plastic used kimchee container. They will be ready in the morning for you to snack on alone or eat with anything!