Penang Acar Recipe (Penang Spicy Pickled Vegetable)

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Traditional Penang Acar Recipe: A Pickled Vegetable Dish with Amazing Sour, Sweet and Spicy Taste

Penang Acar is a special pickled vegetable dish. It’s famous for it’s appetising, sour, sweet and spicy great taste. Penang Acar is a Penang Peranakan Nyonya dish, another Malaysia authentic dish. In southeast asian restaurants, you have probably seen this dish before; perhaps served before meals, or together at the side with a main dish. It is delicious eaten as an appetizer on its own, with rice or sometimes as a side dish, served together with Nasi Lemak (Coconut Milk Rice) or even Nasi Kunyit (Yellow Turmeric Rice).

Penang Spicy Pickled Vegetables: A Pickled Dish That Tastes Even Better With Time

Also known as the Nyonya Pickle, Penang Acar tastes better when the pickles are left overnight chilled in the fridge to allow all spices to come together. This Acar Recipe is great for preparing for the entire family too. Can be left in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

As usual, enjoy!

Penang Acar (Penang Spicy Pickled Vegetables)

Recipe by Huang Kitchen, Angie Liew

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Penang Acar is a special pickled vegetable dish. It’s famous for it’s appetizing, sour, sweet and spicy great taste. Penang Acar is a Penang Peranakan Nyonya dish, another Malaysia authentic dish. It is delicious eaten as an appetizer, with rice or sometimes as a side dish served together with Nasi Lemak or even Nasi Kunyit. Penang Acar tastes better when the pickles are left overnight chilled in the fridge to allow all spices to come together. Can be left in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

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Ingredients

▢ 500 g cucumber, soft centre removed, cut lengthwise with the skin and cut into 1 1/2 inch strips
▢ 200 g cabbage, cut into big pieces
▢ 200 g carrots, skinned and cut into 1 1/2 strips
▢ 200 g long beans, cut into 1 1/2 inch strips
▢ 200 g pineapple, cut into small pieces
▢ 100 g roasted peanuts, ground
▢ 100 g white sesame, toasted
▢ 1 tablespoon salt, to soak vegetables
▢ 1 teaspoon salt
▢ 450 ml white vinegar
▢ 180 g sugar
▢ 6 tablespoons oil

Spice Paste: (ground) - All the below is to be grinded

▢ 10 fresh chillies
▢ 5 in dried chillies, soak in hot water until soft
▢ 10 shallots, skinned
▢ 5 cloves garlic, skinned
▢ 2 cm fresh tumeric, skinned
▢ 2 cm galangal, skinned
▢ 3 candle nuts
▢ 3 tablespoons coriander seeds, or 20g
▢ 20 g belacan, toasted

Instructions

Put cucumber and carrot strips into a bowl. Mix well with 1 tablespoon salt and leave aside for 30 minutes. Wash thoroughly with water, drain and squeeze out water from the strips. (this is to retain crunchiness texture).
Fill a large pot with water (half full). Add 250ml vinegar and bring the water to a boil. Add a pinch of salt to the water.
Blanch each of the vegetables in batches for about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and drain well.
Dry the vegetables for 1 hour.
Heat a large wok. Heat up the oil and fry the red chilli paste for about 3 minutes. Then add in the ground shallot mixtures.
Fry until aromatic and the oil separates. This takes about 10 minutes.
Add the remaining 200ml vinegar, sugar and 1 teaspoon salt.
Then stir in the ground peanuts and mix thoroughly.
Lastly add in the vegetables and stir well.
Garnished with toasted sesame seeds.
It can be served immediately but acar taste best overnight in the refrigerator after the flavours have developed.
Keep chill in the fridge. Can keep for about 2 weeks.

Enjoy!

Tried this recipe?Mention @HuangKitchen or tag #huangkitchen!

To slice and cut vegetables:

Rinse well cucumbers

Slice into long strips

Rinse and skin carrots

Cut into strips

Wash and rinse well cabbage

Cut into big pieces

Wash and rinse long beans

Cut into long strips

Skin a small and ripe pineapple

Cut into small pieces

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Angie Liew

Angie Liew (known as Huang) has a strong love for cooking from a young age. Being a self taught chef, she focuses on improving cooking recipes, simplifying and documenting cooking methods so that her great home cooked dishes can be served and shared among family and friends.

13 comments

YogesJuly 7, 2023 - 2:07 am

Delicious

Felyx TeohJune 24, 2023 - 1:24 am

Thank you Angie. I love nyonya acar very much. y neighbour in childhood days make very good acar. Some that I get from the market in KL are either too soury or watery that I have resorted to making them on my own when the craving starts. Wonderful pictures with the step by step instructions. Anyway I couldn’t find any print button to print them for referral later. Maybe you can add a print button. If there is maybe make it more prominent.

Arthur LaiJanuary 26, 2022 - 2:42 pm

Thanks for sharing. Similar to my mom’s recipe.

Angie LiewJanuary 29, 2022 - 9:48 am

You are most welcome.

Zacchaeus TanMay 7, 2020 - 3:49 pm

❤️❤️🌹🌹🌹👍👍👍Thank you very much 4 sharing u deserved thumb up👍👍👍.

Angie LiewMay 8, 2020 - 10:26 pm

Hi, thanks for viewing. Enjoy!

Karen ThongMay 14, 2021 - 9:55 am

Great recipe! Thks 🙏 so much for sharing. Newbie like me needs all the help to cook something edible 😅

The power of pickles: a guide to preserving almost everything – from jam-making to chutneys | Food – The Best SellersApril 29, 2020 - 7:12 am

[…] thing to have in the fridge is mixed spiced pickles – half salad, half condiment – such as Malaysian penang acar. The veg here requires a bit more preparation. Huangkitchen.com’s Angie Liew says to mix 200g […]

The power of pickles: a guide to preserving almost everything – from jam-making to chutneys – CV19. SolutionsApril 29, 2020 - 6:56 am

[…] to have in the fridge is mixed spiced pickles – half salad, half condiment – such as Malaysian penang acar. The veg here requires a bit more preparation. Huangkitchen.com’s Angie Liew says to mix 200g […]

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The power of pickles: a guide to preserving almost everything – from jam-making to chutneys | Food | Two Stoned BirdsApril 28, 2020 - 6:47 pm

[…] the fridge is blended spiced pickles – half salad, half condiment – comparable to Malaysian penang acar. The veg right here requires a bit extra preparation. Huangkitchen.com’s Angie Liew says to […]

Angie LiewJune 30, 2014 - 11:10 am

Yes, it can be quite a laborious task, with a lot of cutting, slicing and chopping. But its worth the effort when you see your family enjoy feasting into it. Thanks for comment Esther.

Esther WongJune 30, 2014 - 10:06 am

Nyonya loves pickled vegetables of all kinds. My Nyonya MIL is a huge fan and she used to make this dish. Nice to eat but a lot of preperation works.

Penang Acar Recipe (Penang Spicy Pickled Vegetable) - Huang Kitchen (2024)