Traditional Vietnamese Pickled Carrots and Daikon (Do Chua)

Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon or Do Chua are key ingredients in a variety of Vietnamese dishes like banh mi, com tam, and bun. In this blog post, learn how to make this dish at home using a recipe courtesy of my grandma.

This Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon recipe is really special to me because it’s my grandma’s recipe. After she passed away, every time my mom made this recipe, she would say, “This is your grandma’s recipe. She taught me how to make it.” It’s a simple recipe, but one that is the key to many different Vietnamese dishes. In many ways, this dish is like my grandma who was the center of our family and the key to who we are today.

Why are pickled carrots and daikon important to Vietnamese cuisine?

Vietnamese cuisine has a lot of umami and salty flavors thanks to the use of fish sauce, oyster sauce, and soy sauce. In my perspective, the best way to cut through those flavors is with some sort of pickled vegetable. The most popular kind of pickled vegetable in Vietnamese cuisine are carrots and daikon aka do chua.

Do Chua is used as both a condiment and a side dish. We have this stuff on everything like banh mi, com tam, and bun (vermicelli noodle bowls). The purpose of pickled carrots and daikon is to provide balance to the dish. The balance of umami, sweet, and tangy flavors is the hallmark of good Vietnamese food (at least that’s what I think!).

Ingredients, Substitutions & Adjustments

• Water – My mom always says it’s really important that the water is as clean as possible for the cleanest flavor. That’s why I boil the water and then put in the freezer to cool it down. This is how my grandma used to do it.
• White vinegar – The vinegar is the ingredient that is the most important part of the pickling process. It helps preserve the vegetable, and gives it its sour flavor. White vinegar can be substituted with apple cider vinegar and rice wine vinegar, but the flavor will be slightly different because these vinegars have different flavors. For the most authentic flavor, I would recommend using white vinegar.
• Carrots and daikon – You can use any kind of carrots for this recipe like rainbow carrots, but for the most authentic look, use orange carrots.

What ratio of carrots to daikon should you use?

This is completely up to you. Typically, I like to use a 1:1 ratio carrots to daikon, but I’ve seen it both ways where there are more carrots and in others where there is more daikon. In Vietnam, daikon is cheaper than carrots, so you often see more daikon than carrots there. In the US, it’s a bit different since daikon needs to be imported, so there are more carrots than daikon here.

How to julienne carrots and daikon for this recipe

How to julienne carrots

There are a few different ways you can julienne carrots, but this is the method I use. See the picture above for reference.

1. Peel your carrots.
2. Cut your carrots into 2 inch long pieces. They should look like matchsticks.
3. Cut each piece in half.
4. Slice each piece into thin pieces. They should look like thin planks.
5. Slice the thin pieces into thin strips. Ideally, you want each side to be the same length, but this is a home style recipe so it doesn’t matter if some pieces are too small and some are too big.

How to julienne daikon

The process to julienne daikon is similar to carrots. See image above for reference.

1. Peel your daikon.
2. Cut daikon into 2 inch long pieces. They should look like matchsticks.
3. Cut each piece in half.
4. Slice each piece into thin pieces. They should look like thin planks.
5. Slice the thin pieces into thin strips.

Tips on how to make the best Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon

Use a sharp knife

Carrots and daikon are root vegetables, so they are really hard to cut with a dull knife. Make sure you sharpen your knife before julienning your vegetables.

Alternatively, use a julienne peeler

Using a julienne peeler makes julienning the carrots and daikon so much easier. Highly recommend using this tool! Another tool you can use is a mandolin to make the thin slices, and then use a knife to slice them into matchsticks.

Why it’s important to rinse the carrots

My mom does this to wash off some of the orange carrot juice from the carrots. This prevents the color from bleeding out and staining the daikon orange. This step isn’t important if you are putting the carrots and daikon into separate jars.

What kind of jar should I use?

I would recommend using a glass jar without a metal cover. Metal tends to rust, and you don’t want that in your food. I’ve used a metal jar before, and that’s what happened!

How do you store do chua?

These pickled carrots and daikon should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

What are some dishes you can eat with do chua?

Pickled carrots and daikon are used in so many different dishes. It is most associated with banh mi sandwich. The pickled vegetables balance out the savory meat and Vietnamese pate in banh mi, creating a balanced sandwich. Other dishes it’s used in are com tam like com suon and com ga or in vermicelli bowls like bun cha gio and bun bo xao. You can also just toss them into a salad!

Can you use this recipe to pickle other vegetables?

Yes you can! This pickling liquid or brine is also used to make pickled mustard greens in Vietnamese cuisine. But you can also use it for any type of vegetable.

Did you make this dish?

If you made this dish, I would love to see!

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