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Vegetables Lunch / Dinner Salads Side Dishes

Japanese cucumber salad

Published: 12.03.2021 » Last updated: 06.20.2022

Some people consider side dishes as mere accessories to a meal. But, in Asia, especially in Japanese and Korean cuisines, side dishes are integral to a meal. That means cooks spend as much time and effort on them as they do on main courses.

Japanese cucumber salad

Take, for instance, this Japanese cucumber salad. Tangy, sweet and salty, this side dish is so easy to prepare. Pair it with yakitori or tebasaki, and your meal will be twice as satisfying.

The ingredients are pantry staples. For the dressing, there’s rice vinegar, sugar, salt and soy sauce. There is only one vegetable that goes into the salad. Cucumber, of course. Japanese cucumber, to be more precise.

Japanese and English cucumbers, side by side

Japanese cucumber is slimmer than the more ubiquitous English cucumber. The flesh is firmer and less watery. And that makes it ideal for making this salad. The extra step of salting the cucumber slices to remove excess liquid gives the vegetable a wonderful springiness for better mouth feel.

Rehydrating wakame and soaking sliced cucumber in salt

There is cooking involved here but there is soaking. We added wakame to the salad so that had to be soaked in water until fully hydrated. The sliced cucumber went into a bowl, tossed with salt and left to expel excess water.

Slicing rehydrated wakame and squeezing water from cucumber slices

The rehydrated wakame was cut into slices. The cucumber slices were squeezed to get rid of as much water as possible so prevent flavors from getting diluted.

Making dressing for Japanese cucumber salad

The ingredients for the dressing are mixed together and drizzled over the cucumbers and wakame.

Tossed Japanese cucumber salad

For the final touch, toasted sesame seeds. Everything is tossed together and the cucumber salad is ready to be served.

Full recipe below

Japanese cucumber salad

Connie Veneracion
You may make this tangy, sweet and salty salad with cucumber and no other solid ingredient. In this recipe, wakame is added to give the side dish even better flavor.
Japanese cucumber salad
Print
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 0 mins
Soaking time 10 mins
Total Time 20 mins
Course Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine Japanese
Servings 3 people

Ingredients
  

Salad

  • 2 generous pinches dried wakame
  • 1 Japanese cucumber
  • 1 teaspoon rock salt

Dressing

  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar
  • ½ teaspoon rock salt
  • ½ teaspoon soy sauce

Garnish

  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Instructions
 

  • Place the wakame in a bowl, pour in warm water and leave to rehydrate.
  • Rinse the cucumber, pat dry, slice thinly (a mandoline slicer is useful), place in a bowl, add the salt and toss.
  • After ten minutes, squeeze the wakame to remove the water then cut into one-inch lengths.
  • Squeeze the cucumber slices and discard the soaking liquid.
  • Stir together all the ingredients for the dressing (make sure the sugar and salt are fully dissolved).
  • Place the cucumber slices and wakame in a bowl and drizzle the dressing over them.
  • Add the sesame seeds, toss and serve.
Print
Keyword Cucumber, Salad

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Connie Veneracion, Chiang Mai, 2020

Hi, I’m Connie!

Welcome to Umami Days, a blog that advocates innovative home cooking for pleasurable everyday dining. No trendy diets, no food fads and definitely no ludicrous recipe names like crustless quiche, noodleless pho or chocolate lasagna.

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