Pikliz

I got a new cookbook from Amazon.com called A Taste of Haiti.  I have been wanting a Haitian cookbook for a while, but if you try to get one in the airport at Port au Prince, it costs like $50, and you have already given all your money away by then.  Plus that is way too much for a cookbook.  I have looked at a couple in bookstores here, too, but they seem to use ingredients that are not readily available in Maine.  One did include the helpful hint that if you can't find an ingredient here, try the Haitian markets in New York City or Toronto.  Yes, let me run right over.  This cookbook is one that Amazon recommended to me; you know how they do that if they think you will like something?  And I am glad I got it.  I am going to try several recipes out of it (I will NOT be trying Pig's Feet or Goat Bits) and a lot of the recipes have Pikliz in them, so I had to make this first before I could make any of the actual recipes.  This is basically pickled vegetables, which sounds gross when I type it.  But read it and you'll see.  I realize probably nobody is going to make these Haitian recipes, but I include them because you might like to read about them, and feel more international.

Pikliz
6 scotch bonnet peppers (according to google, these are crazy hot...I used jalapenos instead.  Also, I wore gloves)
2 cups thinly sliced or shredded cabbage
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
1/4 cup frozen green peas
4 whole cloves (crazy expensive so I used whole Jamaican allspice, because that's caribbean too)
1 tsp salt
8-10 peppercorns
3 cups vinegar

Snip off the stems of the peppers, cut each into 4 pieces, and keep the seeds.  Place them and all dry ingredients into quart-sized jar, then add the vinegar.  Close jar tightly and let sit 24-48 hours before using.  Once you commence using (their phrasing), store in the refrigerator.  Lasts for months.

See, nothing too weird there for ingredients, so I made it.  It looked very pretty in the jar.  Some recipes will call for just the vinegar from the jar, and others will call for some of the vegetables, but never the peppers.  I can't really say if I liked this recipe or not, because it's not like I had a big spoonful of this to sample it.  But I am going to add it to my subsequent Haitian dishes.