I often get tired of “the usual” salad and crave something a bit more interesting. That’s where this Khmer pickled vegetable salad comes in. While these veggies aren’t truly pickled, they have a terrific snap and flavor which comes from how they’re made.

The veggies for this side dish can be chopped, but I used a y-peeler to make shavings of the carrots for a fun texture. Once you combine all your veggies -there’s carrots, red onion, radishes, and more – then it’s time for the “pickle” part of the recipe.

These veggies aren’t cooked in a vinegar bath. Instead they are served in a dressing of rice vinegar, ginger, lime, and garlic. This makes for an acidic and flavorful combination.

There’s also a bit of hot pepper in the mix for some added heat. With 2 Serrano chili peppers the heat level on this is medium. So if you want it a little less spicy you can use 1 pepper or even half a pepper. Or leave it out altogether for an even milder flavor.

These veggies/pickles hail from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand where they are a common side dish served alongside main dishes. It’s traditional to use birds eye peppers for many pickled items there, but these can be quite hard to find here in the US.

It’s worth noting that this vegetable salad has a pickled quality to it, but it’s not pickled in the way that shelf stable pickles are. These are sort of like the freezer jam version of pickles. Keep these veggies in the fridge and you can enjoy them for up to a week after being prepared.

This salad makes a lovely switch up and it’s a tasty way to get your daily veggies in.