Not time yet…

I was surprised when I saw my missus making it…

…the other day because it was not time yet to do that. Normally, she would be making this Sarawak acar timun (cucumber pickle) around Chinese New Year, maybe a week or two before the festival but it is still over a month away.

Maybe because we have been getting a lot of rain lately, the cucumbers are growing very well so they are in abundance right now. Usually, come Chinese New Year, possibly because everyone is making this acar, there will be an acute shortage.

It is really quite labour intensive with all that cutting, the cucumber, carrot and everything else into long thin strips and they will have to be put out in the sun to dry a bit so it will be nice and crispy/crunchy.

It did look like quite a lot but once it was done, my missus only managed to come out with these four bottles…

Of course, we are keeping them till Chinese New Year – pickles…

…can keep really well so there will not be a problem with that and anyway, we will be keeping it in the fridge.

Of course, we did try a bit before putting it away and that called for some keropok (prawn crackers). The typical Sarawakian practice is to eat acar with keropok…

…and luckily, we still had a pack…

…in the house, left over from last Chinese New Year, due to expire in 2023.

I quickly took it out to dry in the sun…

They say that if you do not do that, your keropok will not rise to the occasion when fried and it will not be nice and crispy.

That afternoon, I went to take it in to fry but my missus had beaten me to it. There was enough to fill two big Tupperware containers like this…

…and yes, we did try it with the acar and it was very very nice!

Of course, we must exercise a bit of self-control and not over-indulge. Otherwise, we would not have any acar left, come Chinese New Year. LOL!!!