Easy Japanese Cucumber Salad With Vinegar 🥒

Sudachi

Japanese cucumber salad, or sunomono, is a refreshing side dish recipe that turns thin sliced cucumbers into a crisp, tangy, and lightly sweet bowl. This dish usually starts by salting cucumber slices to draw out extra moisture, which helps them stay crunchy while absorbing the dressing more evenly. A simple vinegar mixture made with rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and sometimes dashi or sesame creates a clean balance of acidity, sweetness, and umami. As the cucumbers rest in the dressing, they become bright and flavorful without losing their fresh bite. Wakame seaweed, sesame seeds, crab, shrimp, ginger, or shiso can add texture and extra aroma. The final sunomono is light, fast, and easy to pair with rice, grilled fish, sushi, karaage, or other Japanese meals for a cool side with crisp texture and clean flavor.

Transcript

00:00I absolutely love this cucumber salad says one of my readers and today i'm showing why

00:05the crunch starts in the brine the flavor ends in fragrant ginger this is the cucumber salad

00:10you have on repeat let's go a printable version of this recipe is available on my website

00:16simply google cucumber salads that you do grab yours whisk together one tablespoon of unseasoned

00:23rice vinegar one teaspoon of sugar one teaspoon of japanese light soy sauce and a pinch of dashi

00:29granules until everything dissolves now add five grams of thinly julienned ginger those delicate

00:36little matte sticks and let them steep in the dressing while we prep the cucumbers if you're

00:43vegetarian or vegan just swap the regular dashi granules for plant-based kombu dashi granules

00:48or skip them entirely if you don't have usukuchi light sosos you can just use regular japanese sosos

00:56now for the optional cucumber prep this is for when you want extra vivid green bring water to a rolling

01:06boil at 100 degrees and set up a large ice bath wash two cucumbers sprinkle them with some cold salt

01:14and roll them firmly against the cutting board for 15 to 20 seconds this technique is known as itazuri it

01:23smoothes out the spines tames those grassy notes and helps the skin shine you'll actually feel the

01:31surface loses prickly texture and start looking slightly glossy just don't overdo it if you want

01:39that vivid green submerge the whole salt rubbed cucumbers in boiling water for 15 seconds then

01:46immediately till them in the ice bath until cold this heat and hot trick brightens the crawler fill

01:53without cooking the interior so you get the color pop but the crunch stays very much employed

02:00but these are completely optional by the way if you can't find japanese cucumbers purging cucumbers are

02:07your best match just slice them as is kirby or pickling cucumbers work too just peel a few strips if

02:14the skin

02:15feels tough for the complete guide on alternatives check out my article once they're cold trim the

02:22ends then slice the cucumbers about two millimeters thick thinner slices will wilt and taste overly sharp

02:29from the dressing thicker slices won't absorb the flavor quickly enough we're aiming for flexible coins

02:36that still give a satisfying snap when bent now stir one tablespoon of fine salt into 500 milliliters of

02:45cold water to make a roughly 3% brine add the cucumber slices and let them soak for exactly 10

02:52minutes

02:52this step pulls out excess water through osmosis so the cucumbers stay wonderfully crunchy even after

02:59they're dressed but go past 15 minutes and things start veering too salty so stay tight on the timing

03:08drain the cucumber slices well then scoop up a handful and give them a gentle squeeze once or twice stop

03:15as soon as normal drops fall this part is crucial over squeezing crashes the cells and turn those beautiful

03:24slices mushy we want them drained not demolished now toast the cucumbers with that ginger infused dressing

03:31until every single slice glistens look at that each coin is coated with tangish subtly sweet goodness

03:38punctuated by those bright threads of ginger cover the bowl and chop for 20 to 30 minutes to let those

03:46flavors really soak in and there you have it japanese cucumber salad or kiuri no sunomono this is the

03:54kind of dish that shows up at japanese tables all the time quietly stealing the show as a refreshing

04:00side want even more delicious recipes grab my free cookbook from the link in the description

04:08okay let's go over the ingredients one more time and if you're ready to cook grab the written

04:12instructions by clicking the full recipe box with a picture that's about to pop up on your screen

04:18that's a wrap you can find a full printable version of this recipe on my website linked right here on

04:24screen it has all the extra details to help you get it perfect every time if you enjoy this check

04:30out my

04:30salad playlist and next week i'm making terry egg meatballs hit subscribe so you don't miss it see you then

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