Not Quite Peruvian Pickled Veggies

I stumbled across the most amazing restaurant about a year ago.  It's Peruvian- and lets be honest, I know absolutely nothing about Peruvian food, so I have no idea how authentic it is. What I do know is that the food this place serves is seriously up there with the best food I've ever eaten in my life.  

I've tried several of the appetizers there- causa limeña, yuca, plantains, etc.  I've had a delicious soup with quinoa.  I've tried my husband's chicken with passion fruit.  However I have only ordered one entree myself.  I'm sure the entire menu is delicious and I'm missing out on loads of good food but I just can't help myself, I have to order it every time we go- that adobo arequipeño is just too good to miss out on.  I can't imagine how anything could possibly be better than that dish!  Ohmygoodness it's tasty.  Pork stew over white rice and sweet potatoes...it's perfection.  Sitting there on the plate next to all of this goodness is a little pile of pickled red onions called Salsa Criolla.

When I saw a recipe for salsa criolla I knew I had to try it.

Spoiler alert: this is not that recipe.

Well, it's the recipe I came across, but it's definitely NOT the salsa criolla from my beloved Peruvian place.  While I was disappointed that it wasn't quite the recipe I was looking for (oh trust me, there will be another salsa criolla recipe coming soon- now that I have this idea in my head I'm a little stuck on it!) it was absolutely a tasty dish in it's own right.

We've already talked about my slight obsession with fun side dishes, especially the kind that are the perfect accompaniment to for our summer grilling adventures.  These pickled veggies really fit the bill perfectly.  In addition to the red onions in the salsa criolla I was used to, this recipe adds thinly sliced cucumber, tomato, and just a tiny bit of cucumber.  It is only lightly pickled so the flavors of the veggies really shine through.  So refreshing!

I served this on the plate like a salad but I found that it was a great accompaniment to the pork loin that we were eating as well.  

So, while this wasn't quite what I was going for originally this is one super delicious summer side dish!

Peruvian Pickled Onions (Salsa Criolla)

From Allrecipes.com

1 tsp sea salt

2 red onions, sliced very thinly into half moons

2 large English cucumbers, halved and sliced very thinly

1 large tomato, halved and thinly sliced

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

2 Tbsp lime juice

1 Tbsp white wine vinegar

1 jalapeno pepper, sliced into very thin matchsticks, or more to taste (optional)

1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

cracked black pepper and salt to taste

1. Fill a bowl with water; stir in salt until dissolved. Add red onions; let soak for 10 minutes. Drain and pat dry.

2. Mix onions, cucumbers, tomato, rice vinegar, lime juice, white wine vinegar, jalapeno pepper, cilantro, olive, and black pepper together in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate at room temperature before serving, about 30 minutes.