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.
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 I originally made this to go into a poke bowl (recipe to follow later). 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.
I hope you’ll give this a try and keep a look out for further Japanese recipes to come!
Japanese Pickled Cucumber
Ingredients
- salt for sprinkling
- 1 English cucumber thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar
- 1 ts sugar
- 1/2 ts salt for marinade
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 green onion sliced
Instructions
- Thinly slice the cucumber
- Sprinkle salt on the thin slices of English cucumber. Leave these in a colander to drain for approximately 15 minutes
- Rinse the cucumber slices with water and drain
- Place the cucumber in a bowl, and add the rice vinegar, sugar, and 1/2 ts salt. Mix well
- Cover and leave to marinade for at least 24 hrs.
- When ready to serve, sprinkle with sesame seeds and garnish with green onions.
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