Ingredients
|
1-2 Japanese cucumbers OR 1 English cucumber
Hawaiian or kosher salt ¼ cup American vinegar ¼ cup white sugar |
Black sesame seeds
Splash of sesame oil Optional 1 carrot OR 4-5 baby carrots |
What To Do
To prep, cut edges off cucumber and rub together. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the cucumber skin in long strips so that the cucumber has “stripes” down the long way. Cut cucumber in half lengthwise, split in half, spoon out the seeds, and very thinly slice very with a mandoline or very sharp knife.
Put sliced cucumbers in a bowl. Sprinkle with a little salt, and set them aside for about 30 minutes to make them “weep.”
If you are adding carrots, peel and cut carrot and slice with mandoline or very sharp knife while the cucumber is getting the salt treatument. Please be careful.
In another bowl, mix together the sugar and vinegar until sugar is dissolved. Drain excess water from cucumbers. Add cucumbers to sugar/vinegar and toss well.
Refrigerate and chill completely if possible.
Just before serving, add a dash of sesame oil, toss lightly, and sprinkle with black sesame seeds.
Put sliced cucumbers in a bowl. Sprinkle with a little salt, and set them aside for about 30 minutes to make them “weep.”
If you are adding carrots, peel and cut carrot and slice with mandoline or very sharp knife while the cucumber is getting the salt treatument. Please be careful.
In another bowl, mix together the sugar and vinegar until sugar is dissolved. Drain excess water from cucumbers. Add cucumbers to sugar/vinegar and toss well.
Refrigerate and chill completely if possible.
Just before serving, add a dash of sesame oil, toss lightly, and sprinkle with black sesame seeds.
Notes and Talking Story
- Mom or Grandma measuring system was "it should taste not too sweet and not too vinegary"
- Since I don't have measuring utensils with those increments, I modified a very non-Japanese pickled radish recipe from Better Homes and Gardens and another equally non-Japanese Persian pickled cucumber recipe from the Internet. Amazingly, it works.
- However, in a nod to filial piety, I faithfully cut off the ends of the cucumber and rub the edges together, supposedly to take out the bitterness. This may be an old wives tale, but this really is something Mom and Grandma absolutely required.