HappyGut Piccalilli is a flavourful, tangy, and gut-friendly take on a classic mustard and turmeric pickle. This versatile condiment combines a colourful medley of vegetables with aromatic spices and a quick pickling process to create a delicious pantry staple that’s both nourishing and easy on digestion. Adapted for those with sensitive stomachs, this recipe emphasises the use of vegetables and ingredients that are low in FODMAPS (fermentable sugars that can cause digestive discomfort). Customizable to suit your body’s preferences and needs, this piccalilli is a delicious way to boost your meals with flavour and health benefits.
Foundation of Ingredients for Flavour and Nutrition
The vegetable component allows for flexibility, with options like crisp zucchini marrow, crunchy cucumber, tender silverbeet stalks, vibrant green or yellow capsicum, or nutrient-rich green beans. You can also add small amounts of broccoli or cauliflower for added variety. These veggies provide fibre and hydration, helping to support healthy digestion. Vegetables like broccoli and zucchini are rich in vitamins C and K, as well as antioxidant compounds that help fight free radicals and inflammation.
Pickling vegetables enhances their longevity and intensifies their flavour, providing a tangy, fermented food that supports gut health. Pickling is also a great way to incorporate more vegetables into meals, and this gut-friendly mix ensures high digestibility.
Gut-Friendly Seasoning
The base of this recipe starts with pickling salt (free from additives and designed for preserving the texture and colour of vegetables) mixed with vinegar, which acts as a natural preservative. The choice of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar ensures that the mixture remains low FODMAP, as red or malt vinegars contain compounds that can irritate sensitive stomachs. Vinegar is high in acetic acid, which can help support gut bacteria and promote better digestion.
This version is enriched with warming and grounding spices such as mustard powder, turmeric, and ginger. Mustard powder enhances the tangy flavour while contributing anti-inflammatory and metabolism-boosting properties. Turmeric, a superfood spice, is packed with curcumin, a compound known for reducing inflammation, aiding digestion, and promoting overall gut health. Ginger, another digestive powerhouse, helps soothe the gastrointestinal tract, reduce bloating, and assist with nutrient absorption. The synergistic combination of these spices ensures the pickles are both flavorful and healing.
An optional addition of cumin, coriander, or mustard seeds can provide extra depth of flavour while enhancing the gut-health benefits. These seeds are known for their digestive properties, with cumin aiding in reducing gas and bloating, coriander supporting digestive enzymes, and mustard seeds offering gentle gut stimulation.
Nourishing Binder for Texture
The addition of rice flour serves as a natural thickener for your piccalilli, giving it a perfectly thick and spoonable consistency without using wheat-based alternatives, keeping it gluten-free and suitable for sensitive stomachs.
Balanced Sweetness
Using raw sugar instead of refined versions maintains a minimal level of sweetness to balance the tartness of the vinegar without overwhelming the flavor—and still keeping the recipe natural and unprocessed. If sugar isn’t tolerated, alternatives such as maple syrup or coconut sugar in small amounts can achieve a similar outcome.
Health Benefits Overview
- Gut-Friendly and Low-FODMAP: By focusing on low-FODMAP vegetables and spices, this piccalilli is easier for those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or sensitive digestive systems to enjoy.
- Rich in Fibre: The vegetables chosen are nutrient-dense, high in dietary fibre, and easy on digestion, which supports regularity and ensures that gut bacteria have fuel to thrive.
- Anti-Inflammatory Benefits: Turmeric, ginger, and mustard powder are renowned for their anti-inflammatory compounds, which benefit overall gut health and reduce the risk of chronic digestive discomforts.
- Digestive Support: Ingredients like ginger, vinegar, and optional cumin or coriander seeds naturally stimulate digestion, reduce gas, and promote better nutrient absorption.
- Antioxidant-Rich: The vegetable medley and spices contribute a high antioxidant profile, helping to combat oxidative stress and potentially reducing the risk of chronic illnesses.
Versatile Use in Meals
This HappyGut Piccalilli is as versatile as it is nourishing. Add it to sandwiches and wraps for a tangy kick, serve it alongside curries, use it as a topping for grilled proteins or roasted vegetables, or enjoy it as a burst of flavour on a cheese platter. It’s a flavorful addition that improves your gut health while elevating your meals.
With its vibrant colours, bold flavours, and digestive benefits, HappyGut Piccalilli is not just a pickle—it’s a celebration of health, flavour, and mindful eating. Try customising it to suit your body and taste buds, and enjoy a condiment that brings both joy and nourishment to every meal!
Happygut Piccalilli
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg veges – your combination of zucchini marrow, cucumber, silver beet stalks, green or yellow capsicum, and green beans. Maybe some broccoli or cauliflower.
- ½ cup pickled salt see the notes below
- 5 cups vinegar (cider or white, not red or malt)
- ¼ cup rice flour
- 3 tbsp mustard powder
- 1 tbsp each of ground turmeric & ground ginger
- ⅓ cup raw sugar
- Optional extras: seeds of cumin, coriander or mustard
Instructions
The day before
- Peel the cucumbers and cut out the seedy section if it’s watery. Trim the beans, then chop all the veges except silver beet stalks into chunks – small enough to look nice in a salad dressing.
- Slice the silver beet stalks thinly to resemble sliced celery.
- Put all the veges into a large plastic bucket, layer by layer, sprinkling each layer with salt as you go. Cover with a tea towel. Leave overnight.
Next Day
- Drain the liquid out of the veges.
- Rinse the veges thoroughly in cold water several times until the salt is washed out.
- Heat oven to 150◦C. Wash half a dozen or more jars, then put them in oven for 15 mins. Better to heat too many jars than not enough. Soak lids in boiling water.
- Mix 1 cup of the vinegar with the flour and spices to make a paste. Set it aside.
- Pour a litre of vinegar into a large pot and stir in the sugar. Bring to a simmer, then add the vegetables and boil for 6-7 minutes (‘til just cooked, but still crunchy).
- Stir in the rice ‘n spice paste, and boil for 3 minutes, stirring all the time.
- Take jars out of oven with tongs and fill almost to the top with hot pickle. Screw the lids on and leave them to cool. Check they are sealed. Store in a dark place for 2 weeks to develop a full flavour before eating. Well-sealed, your Piccalilli will keep for at least a year.
Notes
- Salt draws water from the veges, resulting in more crunch. You won’t be eating all that salt – it is washed out once its job is done. Pickling salt is plain, white salt with no added iodine or free-flowing agents.
- For a nice yellow pickle, use mostly white or colourless vegetables. Small chunks of green veges enhance the yellow.
- Making pickles from ‘glut’ veges in season is a great money-saver.
- Think of pickles as a thick, ‘nutrient-dense vinegar.’ Blend it for a smooth texture or mix it with soy yoghurt, avocado, or nut butters to dress salads.
