Place all prepared vegetables in a separate bowl

Wash the beans and chillies and slice diagonally and keep.

Peel the carrots and cut into batonnets and keep. A batonnnet is a vegetable cut that usually measures about 5 cm in length and 1 cm width.

Wash the bitter gourds, slice it in half horizontally, remove the seeds and white pith with a small spoon, wash under running water. Pat dry and slice in batonnets and keep.

Wash the cauliflower, remove the leaves and prepare the florets. Cut florets in half.

Wash green pawpaw, cut length-wise into quarters, remove seeds and peel. Grate on a hand-grater using the large holes, and keep.

Peel and slice the onions and pound the ginger in a mortar and pestle and keep

Place water in a deep pot, add some salt and bring to boil. At the same time, prepare a large bowl of cold water. Iced water is even better.    

Once water has come to the boil, place all vegetables, one at a time, (except the onion and bitter gourd) in a colander and blanch for a maximum of 2 minutes

Blanch bitter gourd for 1 minute, or else it will cook and become soft.

Drain or lift out the vegetables and transfer them to the iced water.

Once they are cooled , drain and pat dry ( except the pawpaw)

Place blanched pawpaw in a cloth and wring hard to extract as much moisture as possible, fluff up and move to next step.

Place some kitchen towel in a tray and transfer the blanched vegetables, including pawpaw, in the tray. Lay them out generously spaced on a single layer and cover with another another layer of kitchen towel.

Apply pressure on the towel for about 10 minutes so that it can absorb as much moisture from the vegetables as possible.

Line another tray with kitchen towel and transfer the vegetables in it in single layer and cover with some netting.

Place the tray   in the sun for a about two to three hours to air-dry. The idea here is to eliminate as much humidity found on the surface of the vegetables as possible. (note 2)

Because of the bulk of ingredients,  stir-fry each ingredient separately. The steps to take for each ingredient are as follows:

Prepare the aromatics. Place a large frying pan or wok on high heat and  add 75ml oil . Add ½ teaspoon of turmeric  and stir quickly and then immediately add the onion, ginger, chilli and mustard.  Give it a quick stir for about one minute and then remove it from the heat and spread on a tray to allow for quick cooling down. ( note 1 )

Follow the same steps for every ingredient. Add 75 ml of oil to the pan or wok and stir in ½ teaspoon of turmeric and then quickly add the vegetable and stir-fry for one minute. Remove from heat, and spread in a tray to allow for quick cooling down.

Once all vegetables have been stir-fried and cooled, transfer  the aromatics and all stir-fried vegetables in a large bowl and  add enough salt and cracked pepper  to taste and  thoroughly mix them all up.

Add the white vinegar and some oil and mix in thoroughly.

Reserve the extra oil to top up the asar when you place them in the jars. (note 3)

Fill sterilised jars , top with oil, tighten the lid and store in the refrigerator.

Leave for at least 2 days before serving. This gives the flavours time to blend.