Tsachī

Tsachī are a type of fermented vegetable made from the greens of Brassica juncea produced via a long double fermentation process.

The production process begins with the sundried mustard greens. Either the leaves or sliced up stems may be used. The next step essentially is the same as used to produce nichī pickles; the dried greens are salted and fermented in brine. They are fermented for a longer time than most nichī pickles, from 2 to 6 months. The fermented greens are then steamed and dried again, before undergoing another round of fermentation. Spices are added to the second fermentation, generally some variation of the spices used in Otseqon N spice mixture. After the second stage is over, the double-fermented greens are then steamed, minced into fairly small flakes, and dried once more time, producing the final product.

Tsachī is often used in qoya noodle dishes and in kakiten (a sort of dry condiment sprinkled on more or less anything).

The word comes from tsā ‘to break down, decompose (into constituent parts), digest; to identify (esp. with hi- visual instrumental prefix); to finish, complete; (with resultative) to be adept at, to have a good command of; (in manner SVCs) to do methodically, without skipping any steps; to do completely’ (definitions are given as English transitives for readability, but the verb root is intransitive and means to get that done to it) + -chī LS:green_parts_of_a_plant (i.e., it's something like "finished leaves").