Have you ever been to the noodle stalls in Asia? Most shops serve steamy noodles with lots of condiments on the side. In Thailand, they place a few jars of chili flakes, sugar, ground peanuts, vinegar and a bottle of fish sauce on the tables, much like you have bottles of ketchup and mustard in some fast food restaurants in the West. These condiments are given for adjusting the flavor of the noodle as per your likeness. I like my noodles sweet, sour, salty and spicy. Basically I just add whole lot of condiments and turn the mellow delicious noodle broth into tear-dropping flavors bursting soup. I’m salivating thinking about it.

One of the must-condiments for noodles is vinegar. Different shops have their versions of flavoring their vinegar. Some use chili, some use garlic, and some use both. The flavored vinegar gives that pungent pickling flavor to the noodle. I usually use about 1-2 tbsp for a bowl of noodle.

My mom and I made two jars of Garlic Vinegar the other day. We keep them refrigerated after a few day preserving in room temperature. Now we are using it in noodles, rice soup and even other dishes. It’s very easy to make.

Garlic Vinegar
Ingredients

3 cups peeled garlic- cut into small chunks
5 fresh chili- roughly sliced
2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp fish sauce

Direction

Mix vinegar, water, sugar, salt and fish sauce in a pot. Bring to boil and let the mixture cool down completely.
Stuff garlic and chili in the jars and pour in the liquid mixture until everything is submerged.
Keep the jars in a cool dry place for 2 days and store them in refrigerator up to 3 weeks.