Pickled Mustard Greens, or Swan Tsai, are a traditional Chinese favorite. They’re the sour chopped veggies you get in the Beef Noodle Soup (if you get an authentic one) or in Taiwanese dishes like Minced Pork Rice or Pork Chop Rice. Oh, I also love when they are sauteed with squid.
So I asked my mom how to make Swan Tsai, and was shocked to learn how easy it was:
1. Get a large clean jar (with lid). Clean the mustard greens very thoroughly by rinsing with water and rubbing the dirt off with your fingers.
2. Press a few leaves into the jar, sprinkle with table salt, press another couple of leaves, sprinkle with table salt. Repeat until you reach the top, making sure to pack in tightly. Fill the jar with water and top with about a tablespoon of white vinegar. This is just to prevent mold. Cover tightly.
3. Bring it over to the sink and turn it upside down 2 or 3 times.
4. Now just let it sit. In warm weather, it will only take a few days. In the winter, it will take up to 9 days. It all depends on your room temperature.
5.You have to check to see when it’s done. After a few days, the bright green will turn to yellow and brown. If you look closely, you can still see some bright green. Wait until all of it turns brown. Now you can taste it by using a clean chopstick. Every time you open the jar, top with a spoon of vinegar before closing it. You can also add water if the water level has dropped. If the mustard greens don’t taste like they are pickling by day 6, you probably didn’t use enough salt. Add more and turn the jar upside down a few times.
6. When it’s done (to your taste), remove the leaves from the water and store in tupperware, in the fridge.
*Note: Water can be re-used to pickle more mustard greens. Just pack in the leaves and sprinkle a little more salt and top with vinegar again.
I LOVE Swan Tsai, sour and salty, crunchy and crispy, ok, they are an ugly color, but it’s so so good! The anticipation while it’s pickling is what kills me so start making more before you finish your stash.
Thanks for the recipe. This looks very tasty.
Interesting! I always wondered what that “Stuff” in the soup was! It’s delicious!
YES!! i loved this stuff growing up (still do) – thanks for the simple recipe! i think my grandmother uses a special type of dried ginger in it too…
i look forward to trying it.
NP Asianmommy…
Kelley, it is so delicious, yet so simple.
Lindsay, don’t you love nostalgic foods?
I honestly always thought this was more laborious than it actually is–thanks for the recipe!!
Dr. Food, I did too. I’m never buying the store-prepared ones again. It’s just too easy.
We’re still not too confident with pickling and such… but this sounds like a must-try!
TS, this is too easy to pass up.
Is this, is this, is this the pickled greens they serve with Taiwanese beef noodle? Is it really? *hopeful*
We’ve been holding off making our own version of Taiwanese beef noodle because we can’t figure out what the greens were. We’ve asked around and nobody seems to know. So, is it, is it, is it really?
(I looked at the pork chop entry and the pickled greens there look like what we get with our beef noodles here. So these ones are the same?)
JS, it is!! It’s the best stuff ever right? Beef Noodle Soup is not the same without Swan Tsai!
Wow, I’ve never considered my own swan tsai, but you make it sound so easy that I just might try it. Thanks!
gaga, I know it sounds to easy to be true but it is!
i think i used the wrong kind of mustard greens – they only had one kind at my farmer’s market! they haven’t lost their bright green color yet. i might just rinse and cook those and go back to the drawing board!
Al, does the mustard green you got look different? Did you use enough salt….it’s quite a lot.
I bought pickled mustard today, and am having it with fried chicken tonight, but I’m wondering if it’s best served cold or warm.
Morty, I personally think it’s good at every temperature. I’ve had it in soups, sauteed, chopped up as a relish cold, all delicious.
Thanks so, so, so, so much! My mother used to pickle her own in Vietnam but now she can’t quite remember how she did it. We experimented a few times but it turned moldy before it was edible. I am definitely giving this a try. Our family loves the stuff but it is harder and harder to buy it without all the food colouring, sulphites and msg. So a big thanks to you and your mom from me and my mom.
orchidpavillion, awesome! Let me know how it goes!
“Fill the jar with water and top with about a tablespoon of white vinegar. This is just to prevent mold.”
Would these turn out sour?
Yummyum, these are supposed to be sour. The process turns them sour and the 1 tablespoon of vinegar is really just to prevent mold.
How much salt do you use per pound of mustard greens?
Bob I hope I am answering the right question here, I’ll try any way. My wife of 43 years, Japanese, Uses a glass or plastic container useuly a big Plastic bowl ( 1gal size) puts her veggies, Mustard Greens, small white radishes, Nappa cabbage, turnips wit or without tops, about anything you want pickeled. Throws in a handful of salt, and then layers veggies, and a thin coat of salt however thick she wants to make it, put in some red peppers or other hot peppers if you like them hot. Put a plate or flat disc, fresby, whatever fits the bowl on top of the veggies being pickeled. Set a gallon jug of water on the plate for pressing as they cure. Useuly a day is long enough unless it is really cool where you cure them, carrots and turnips would take longer then Napa. Don’t add water, it will come with the salt. After a day of cureing, rinse the salt off slice and eat, you can use soy, or Korean Kinchi paste, citrus paste, anything you like with the pickles. Last about week then get too salty. Sorry so long winded. Roy ( No measurements for anything, If you put too much salt you just wash it off)
Thanks for the reply. I’ll give that a shot.
Bob, there’s no exact measurement for this because it will vary depending on water and the temperature. The process Roy describes is a bit different, maybe a Japanese style of pickling.
Thank you . I have been looking every where for this. Now I start the search for spicy preserved oriental Cucumbers.
I wonder how different the Chinese Mustard Green from the Mustard Greens we grow here in the south? I bet this recipe would be good with Turnip greens too. I’ll have to try that out and let you know.
Allen, I’d love to know!! Take pics!
I think that any cruciferous vegetable greens (including rutabaga, turnips, kohlrabi, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, gai-lan, mustard, rapeseed) will work, though some better than others. They’re all related plants, and i’ve eaten pickles made from greens of turnip, mustard, and kai-lan [“chinese broccoli”] so they should work.
Here is a recipe that uses pickled greens, one of my childhood faves: http://www.indochinekitchen.com/recipes/braised-pork-belly-with-preserved-mustard-cabbage/
How long does it last in the fridge after you take it out of the jar? Thanks again! I couldn’t find it in my market today and I wanted to make my own to use for other foods.
Sara, at least a week, maybe 2. It’ll depend a bit on how often you open the container in the fridge.
[…] version is closest to the one previously published here, and as a bonus they’ve also included how to make swan tsai which is pretty close to what I did too. Swan tsai directly translates to “sour […]
Thanks for this!