Pickled Sushi Ginger Recipe (Gari) - Homemade | Aline Made (2024)

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Making pickled sushi ginger at home is easy, quick, and you only need a few ingredients! Let me show you how to make it!

Pickled Sushi Ginger Recipe (Gari) - Homemade | Aline Made (1)

If you’re a Sushi fan, chances are you also love Japanese pickled sushi ginger (Gari). Usually, they are served together, and if you are asking me, they belong together. Enjoying a plate of sushi without pickled ginger sushi isn’t the same!

And because I find it incredibly delicious, I love to prepare pickled ginger myself, rather than buying it.

Gari, how it’s originally called, is a typical Japanese recipe. But don’t worry, the recipe is super simple, no Asian cooking skills required!

It tastes slightly sweet and sour and adds flavor to any Asian dish with its pleasant spiciness.

Pickled Sushi Ginger Recipe (Gari) - Homemade | Aline Made (2)

Homemade vs. Store-Bought

Sushi ginger is available in every Asian shop and every major supermarket, so why bother making it yourself?

Homemade pickled ginger tastes better, no discussion! Making it from scratch with fresh ginger simply can’t be beaten by the store-bought version. It’s wonderfully aromatic and has a decent bite. Furthermore, it’s free of any preservatives.

Sure, it’s quicker and easier to place it in the shopping trolley while shopping. However, if you like cooking and love homemade food, I highly recommend trying it once. The recipe is simple, can be followed by anyone, and you only need a few ingredients: ginger, rice vinegar, sugar, and salt.

What do you need?

Fresh Ginger:Make sure to buy fresh, preferably young ginger. You recognize it by the smooth skin and an even and light color. Old ginger, on the opposite, is wrinkled, dry, and usually smaller cause it shrunk a little.

Rice Vinegar:Available within the Asian aisle in the local supermarket or any Asian market. If you have an Asian shop in your city, make a stop and buy your Asian ingredients there. They are usually much more affordable than in regular supermarkets. Be attentive while shopping, rice vinegar often stands next to Mirin and does look exactly the same. But both products are different. Mirin is much sweeter and less acidic than rice vinegar.

Mandoline Slicer:Having one comes very handy for this recipe. You want your ginger to be thinly sliced, which works best with a mandoline slicer. The thinner the ginger, the better it tastes. Alternatively, use a sharp knife or vegetable peeler.

How To Make Sushi Ginger Recipe – Step-by-Step

This visual guide with step-by-step pictures should help you along the way- definitely recommended if you are preparing sushi ginger for the first time.

If you are a pro, skip right to the recipe at the end of the post, where you will also find the exact quantities and everything else you need to know to make this recipe.

  • Peel the ginger using a sharp teaspoon.
Pickled Sushi Ginger Recipe (Gari) - Homemade | Aline Made (3)
  • Slice the ginger finely using a mandoline slicer or sharp knife.
Pickled Sushi Ginger Recipe (Gari) - Homemade | Aline Made (4)
  • Add the sliced ginger with ½ tsp salt in a small bowl, mix, and set aside for 5 minutes.
Pickled Sushi Ginger Recipe (Gari) - Homemade | Aline Made (5)
  • Bring a small saucepan with water to the boil. Add salted ginger and cook for 1 minute (up to 5 minutes if you love pickled ginger less spicy and mild).
Pickled Sushi Ginger Recipe (Gari) - Homemade | Aline Made (6)
  • Drain over a sieve, wait until cold, and squeeze out all excess liquid using your hands.
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  • Place the ginger in a small mason jar.
  • Add rice vinegar, sugar, and salt into the same saucepan. Bring to a boil, switch off the heat, and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
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  • Pour the hot liquid over the ginger and, if necessary, press the ginger down with a tablespoon so that it is fully covered with the liquid.
Pickled Sushi Ginger Recipe (Gari) - Homemade | Aline Made (9)
  • Close the lid, let it cool, and refrigerate for at least a few hours before serving.
Pickled Sushi Ginger Recipe (Gari) - Homemade | Aline Made (10)

Recipe FAQ

How long does it keep fresh?You can store the pickled sushi ginger in the refrigerator for weeks. The flavor develops over time and tastes best after a few days.

With what can I serve it?With any kind of Sushi, Asian stir-fries and noodles such as those Udon Stir-Fry Noodles!

Eaten up all the ginger?Don’t spill the vinegar mixture. Keep it in the fridge and use it next time to prepare a stir-fry sauce, mixed with soy sauce and a little brown sugar. Tastes delicious, fresh, and logically gingery!

More Asian Recipes You’ll Love:

  • Rice Paper Sushi
  • Vegan Dumplings
  • Vegan Summer Rolls
  • Tofu Banh Mi Sandwiches
  • Vegan Thai Iced Tea

Did You Try This Recipe?

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📖 Recipe

Pickled Sushi Ginger Recipe (Gari) - Homemade | Aline Made (11)

Sushi Ginger

Making pickled sushi ginger at home is easy, quick, and you only need a few ingredients!

Author : Aline Cueni

4.92 from 12 votes

Click on the stars to leave a vote!

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Prep Time :15 minutes mins

Cook Time :5 minutes mins

Total Time :20 minutes mins

Servings : 1 Jar

Calories : 184kcal

Ingredients

  • 3.5 oz (100 g) ginger
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) rice vinegar
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

  • Peel the ginger with a sharp teaspoon and slice it finely using a mandoline slicer or sharp knife. Add it with ½ tsp salt in a small bowl, mix, and set aside for 5 minutes.

  • Bring a small saucepan with water to the boil. Add salted ginger and cook for 1 minute (up to 5 minutes for less spicy and mild sushi ginger). Drain over a sieve, wait until cool, and squeeze out all excess liquid using your hands. Fill the ginger in a small mason jar.

  • Add rice vinegar, sugar, and salt into the same saucepan. Bring to a boil, switch off the heat, and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Pour it over the ginger and if necessary, press the ginger down with a tablespoon so that it is fully covered with the liquid. Close the lid, let it cool, and refrigerate for at least a few hours before serving.

  • Keeps fresh for weeks if stored in the refrigerator.

Notes

  • Ginger Cooking Time: 1 minute is for spicy ginger, the longer you cook it, the less spicy it gets. Don’t cook longer than 5 minutes.
  • Eaten up all the ginger? Don’t spill the vinegar mixture. Keep it in the fridge and use it next time to prepare a stir-fry sauce, mixed with soy sauce and a little brown sugar.

Nutrition

Calories: 184kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1759mg | Potassium: 412mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 1mg

Pickled Sushi Ginger Recipe (Gari) - Homemade | Aline Made (16)

Aline Cueni

I’m a girl who loves to cook and bake delicious homemade food. Let me help you to incorporate more plant-based foods into everyday life! Vegetarian & vegan recipes can be anything but boring.

Pickled Sushi Ginger Recipe (Gari) - Homemade | Aline Made (2024)

FAQs

Is pickled ginger gari good for you? ›

Pickled ginger, like many pickled vegetables, is a low pH food that is high in good microbes, particularly, lactobacillus bacteria, which is recognised as a primary probiotic. Ginger microbes can boost gut microbiota that can prevent disease and improve overall health.

How long does homemade pickled ginger last? ›

Keep the pickled ginger in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to one year. Always use clean utensils to remove the pickled ginger from the jar to avoid contamination and to help them keep for a long time.

What's the difference between pickled ginger and sushi ginger? ›

Gari is often served and eaten after sushi, and is sometimes called sushi ginger. It may also simply be called pickled ginger. In Japanese cuisine, it is considered to be essential in the presentation of sushi.

How do we prepare gari? ›

Gari is made by sieving the wet cake into small pieces – known as grits – and then roasting or frying the grits in a hot frying tray or pan to form the final dry and crispy product. Gari is normally white or cream, but will be yellow when made from yellow cassava roots or when fried with palm oil.

Is too much pickled ginger bad for you? ›

Ginger is safe to eat daily, but experts recommend limiting yourself to 3 to 4 grams a day — stick to 1 gram daily if you're pregnant. Taking more than 6 grams of ginger a day has been proven to cause gastrointestinal issues such as reflux, heartburn and diarrhea.

Does pickled ginger settle your stomach? ›

"Ginger has been found to reduce symptoms of nausea, especially in pregnancy," says Palinski-Wade. Pickled ginger, the kind that usually comes with sushi, may also help. "For symptoms of nausea, foods that are easy on the stomach, usually low-fat foods or ginger ale, can be helpful," says Hanauer.

Why do Japanese eat pickled ginger? ›

Pickled ginger is believed to be a Japanese tradition that helps keep flavors pure. Pickled ginger is recommended if you are switching between sushi types. Pickled ginger is spicy and acidic, which can help to reduce the intensity of seafood. Gari's natural sweetness and juiciness balance the fishy flavor of raw fish.

How to tell if pickled ginger is bad? ›

To tell if pickled ginger has gone bad, check it for signs of mold or discoloration. If the ginger has a slimy texture, a pungent, sour smell, or no smell at all, it is likely bad and should be discarded.

Why didn't my pickled ginger turn pink? ›

Many brands of commercially produced gari are colored pink with artificial color or with beet juice, to intensify the color or because the ginger used is too mature to turn pink upon pickling.

Can you freeze gari ginger? ›

First, peel the skin and then cut the ginger into small pieces; you could also grate them. Store this in an air-tight container or an air-lock zip bag. Keep in the freezer and use as required. Pickled ginger is popularly known as sushi or gari.

Is gari ginger healthy? ›

Ginger in particular stimulates circulation, reduces nausea and is an anti-inflammatory herb. Fermented foods are essential in a healthy diet, and they can be fun and easy to make yourself. Gari is a delicious and long lasting ginger pickle, with no fake pink colouring!

What is sushi pickled ginger called? ›

Pickled ginger is called gari or amazu shoga in Japanese. It's served with sushi or sashimi and helps enhance the flavors and clear your taste buds. It's also great with Century Eggs, a Chinese delicacy.

What do you do with the ginger that comes with sushi? ›

Ginger doesn't belong on your sushi

Admittedly, it tastes pretty good to put a piece of pickled ginger on your sushi, but for Miho there are no exceptions: “You eat ginger in between your sushi bites, to clean your palate.” Ottotto…

Is garri healthy to eat? ›

Great for your digestive system : Garri contains fibres that are not soluble in water. It helps in the absorption of toxins that enter your intestines. In that way, it improves your digestive health and keeps it chugging along nicely.

How to make gari flour? ›

Gari is made throughout West Africa, particularly in Nigeria. The peeled cassava root is ground up mechanically and left in a cloth bag for 3 days. The bag is dewatered in a press and the damp product roasted in a metal dish while stirred to prevent burning.

Is gari flour the same as tapioca flour? ›

Tapioca is a quick-cooking food made from partly gelatinized starch and gari is a fermented, roasted, granular food made from cassava pulp. Objective: Gari and tapioca are nutritionally inferior and need to be fortified.

How to make garri Nigerian food? ›

Hot: Pour 2 cups of boiling water into the bowl, followed by 1 cup of garri, then mix the two until smooth and lump-free, and shape the substance into a doughy ball. Serve with soup—anything from a classic vegetable broth to a thick West African soup like egusi. Garri is perfect for dipping.

References

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