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I confess I know very little about Japanese food, but I am determined to change that! My sister is Japanese, and I really hope that I can learn how to cook a great Japanese meal for her one day.
Therefore, I’m starting with a very basic recipe, the Japanese pickled cucumber. Otherwise known as tsukemono, Japanese pickles are a mainstay of Japanese meals. Asazuke are lightly seasoned quick pickles, which is what our recipe is for. I’m having quite a lot of fun trying to pronounce these words. 🙂
Serve tsukemono with with rice, as a snack, side dish, or garnish, as typically done in Japan. This cucumber asazuke is a very quick and simple preparation. I originally made this to go into a poke bowl (click here for the recipe). This pickle is very light and refreshing, and a perfect and easy recipe to start with in my quest to learn about Japanese cooking and cuisine.
All you will need is salt, an English cucumber (or seedless cucumber), rice vinegar (or seasoned rice vinegar), sugar, sesame seeds, and a green onion.
I used Nishiki rice vinegar, which you can get here from Amazon, or you can use your favorite brand.
Here is another version with a little soy sauce (1 tbsp) and sesame oil (1 ts) added…equally delicious!
I hope you’ll give this Japanese Pickled Cucumber a try!!
Some Other Japanese Foods You May Be Interested In!
Yuzu – 1,000 Foods To Eat Project
Delicious Japanese Pork Katsudon and Rice Bowl
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Cheers!
Grace
Japanese Pickled Cucumber
Ingredients
- salt for sprinkling
- 1 English cucumber or seedless cucumber very thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar or rice vinegar
- 1 ts sugar
- 1/2 ts salt for marinade
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 green onion sliced
Instructions
- Very thinly slice the cucumber
- Sprinkle salt on the thin slices of English cucumber. Leave these in a colander to drain for approximately 20 -30 minutes
- Rinse the cucumber slices with water and drain. Gently squeeze out excess water and pat dry with a paper towel.
- Place the cucumber in a bowl, and add the rice vinegar, sugar, and 1/2 ts salt. Mix well
- Best to cover and leave to marinade for at least 24 hrs. However, you can eat after marinading for 30 minutes if you just can't wait. 🙂
- When ready to serve, sprinkle with sesame seeds and garnish with green onions.
Perfect!
I recommend a version that adds soy sauce(1tbsp) and sesame oil(1tsp) to your recipe!
Thank you so so much for your comments! I will add soy sauce and sesame oil as you have recommended to make this perfect! Thank you!!!!