I’m a sucker for anything pickled, with cravings that extend way beyond pregnancy. It won’t come as a surprise that a flaming hot Atjar Ketimun (Acar) served alongside Nasi Goreng is the epitome of yummy for me.

But even I, the spicy food fiend, must admit that flaming hot pickles just don’t go with everything. Unfortunately. Whenever I cook a dish like Beef Rendang (or regular beef), we eat it with steamed rice, green beans and mellower pickles on the side. Pickles that add zing and sweetness instead of heat and zing.

That’s where Atjar Ketimun Manis comes into play. Manis simply means ‘sweet’. It reminds me of my granddad’s pet name for me: ‘Nona Manis’. My grandpa is the one who taught me a lot of Indonesian words, some of which I needn’t know, catch my drift? Which, of course, was absolutely fascinating to a little girl.

But back to what this is all about. Atjar ketimun manis is a deliciously sweet and very flavorful cucumber pickle. It’s simple and calls for basic ingredients, so there’s no fundamental excuse for you not to give this recipe a go! Unless you don’t like pickles, but know that I’ll mock you for that!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cucumber
1/4 medium onion
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cinnamon stick
salt
oil

Directions:

Note:

As is the case with a lot of Indonesian recipes, you’ll need to make this one day ahead of time. When preparing a ‘rijsttafel’, I even start 3 days ahead of time. You have to give the cucumber time to marinade. You might also want to consider doubling or even tripling the recipe, since the pickles will be gone in no time, trust me.

Finely mince 1/4th of a medium onion. And I mean finely.

Peel the cucumber, slice it in half, spoon out the seeds, slice the halves in half (or three parts) again and chop it.

Sprinkle a little salt on top of the cucumber.

Another flavor-maker is this cinnamon stick, in this case half a stick. I’ve never tried it with ground cinnamon, but I’m sure it’s doable if you add only the tiniest pinch.

Get your gear. Turmeric, ground ginger, black pepper and ground cloves.

Heat a drop of oil (well, more like a tsp) and lightly sauté the onion. Do not let it brown!

Pour in the vinegar, sugar and a pinch of ground cloves. Really just a pinch.

The rule of 1/4. Add 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp ground ginger and 1/4 tsp black pepper.

Give it a good stir, and heat it ‘til the sugar has dissolved. That’s your cue to add the cucumber pieces. Bring it to a boil, remove it from the stove and let it cool off for several hours, say, 3 to 4 hours.

Drain and remove the cucumber from the sugar vinegar.

Leave the cinnamon stick in there and turn the heat on. We’re going to turn this into a syrup.

Simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the liquid has been reduced to a syrup. Add a pinch of salt, discard the cinnamon stick, add the cucumber and turn off the heat. Transfer it to a bowl and store in the fridge overnight.

There you go. Crunchy, sweet and fragrant. How I love Indonesian food!