What Makes Japanese Cucumber Salad So Light? 🥒

Sudachi

Japanese sunomono salad is a refreshing cucumber salad recipe that combines thin sliced cucumbers with a light sweet vinegar dressing. The cucumbers are usually salted first to draw out extra moisture, then gently squeezed so they stay crisp while soaking up the seasoning. A simple dressing made with rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, salt, and sometimes dashi creates a clean balance of tangy, sweet, and savory flavor. Wakame seaweed, sesame seeds, crab stick, shrimp, ginger, or shiso can add extra texture and aroma without making the salad heavy. The final sunomono is cool, crunchy, and easy to prepare ahead, making it perfect with rice, grilled fish, karaage, gyoza, noodles, bento boxes, or other Japanese home-style meals when you need a simple side dish with fresh flavor.

Transcript

00:00Hi Mewtwo and today on Sudachi I'm going to show you how to make a refreshing Japanese

00:04Sonomono salad. It's perfect for summer, so let's get started.

00:08First we're going to make a sauce. Pour 2 teaspoons of soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of mirin,

00:14and 2 teaspoons of rice vinegar into the pan and let it bubble for about 30 seconds.

00:19This sauce is called Sambaizu and has a salty, sweet and tangy flavour.

00:24Take it off the heat and let it cool for a bit.

00:27Add 1 tablespoon of dried rakame seaweed to a bowl and soak it in water for however

00:33long it stays on the packet, usually a few minutes.

00:37While I wait for those, I'm going to thinly slice 100g of Japanese cucumber, place it

00:51in a bowl and massage it with half teaspoon of salt to draw out the excess moisture.

01:02If you're using English cucumber, I'd recommend cutting it half length ways and scooping out

01:08the seeds before slicing. Let that rest for 5 minutes and cut 80g of boiled octopus. If

01:16you don't want to use octopus, you could use boiled shrimp or imitation crab instead, or

01:21just omit it if you like.

01:23OK, now let's wash the salt off the cucumber, and give it a good squeeze to get all the moisture

01:33out. Once that's done, place it in a mixing bowl and add the drained, rehydrated wakame, the octopus.

01:47And the sambaizu sauce. Mix until everything is evenly covered, then it's ready to serve.

01:58You can enjoy the sunomono as an appetizer, side dish or even as a refreshing snack.

02:04And great news, I've launched a free mobile app that makes following along with my recipes

02:09even easier. It's the perfect kitchen companion after watching my videos. You can access step

02:15by step instructions right on your phone while you cook. The download link is in the description

02:20below.

02:21Thanks so much for watching. If you want to know more about this recipe, you can find all

02:25the info on my blog. I've put the link on the screen. You can also find more similar

02:30recipe videos in my Japanese appetizers playlist on the screen.

Category

Transcript

Recommended