Cucumber Salad, Sunomono
Garden to Table: Summer - Cucumbers
Its sweltering 95 degrees in southern California today. Summer garden is reaching its peak, and my two cucumber plants are thriving and producing tons of fruit. Its too hot, so making one of my favorite summer time salad called Sunomono, or cold cucumber salad that has a vinegary sesame oil based dressing. Adding seaweed to the salad adds depth and flavor. Perfect summer time dish.
Cucumbers are one of my favorite crops to grow in the summer months. They start small in a seeded pot. As the seedlings grow about 2-3 inches in the pot after California winter around March, I transfer them to a section of my garden that has full sun, in ground with loose but compact soil in May. They are shy to grow in the cold spring weather- but as soon as the summer heat hits, the little tendrils surface and they start producing leaves and start climbing up. Cucumber plants are vine-like. It has very skinny stem, so needs a good wire cage or trellis to support the growth. Pretty soon, you’ll see beautiful yellow flowers emerge, then the flowers turn into cucumbers.
Its best to harvest the cucumbers when they are about 5-8 inches in length. Too small, and they taste bitter. Too big, they develop tough exteriors. Once picked, you need to eat right away- they don’t stay crunchy.
Recipe: Cucumber salad, Sunomono
Cucumbers - as many as you like
Dehydrated seaweed, or wakame. You can get this at Asian stores.
Seasoned rice wine vinegar (2 parts)
Sesame oil (1 part)
Mirin, Japanese cooking wine (2 parts)
Salt
Sesame seeds, toasted
Cut the cucumbers very thin. Use a mandolin. Watch your fingers- mandolin is a dangerous cooking tool but it will produce amazing results.
Transfer the thin cucumber slices to a bowl. Add enough salt to give a light coat to the cucumbers. (Technique tip: Salting the cucumbers will draw out excess liquid, resulting in crunchy and slightly seasoned cucumber. Do not skip this step or you’ll end with soggy watery cucumbers).
After 8 minutes of letting the salt draw out excess water from the cucumbers, rinse the cucumber under cold water, and drain. Transfer the cucumbers into a towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
In a separate bowl, add the desired amount of dehydrated seaweed or wakame, and add cold water. This will reconstitute the dry seaweed into plump seaweed in a matter of few minutes. Once seaweed is soft again, drain the water, rinse, and squeeze out all liquid if possible. Kitchen towels are great for this.
In a separate bowl- add in seasoned rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and Mirin, or Japanese cooking wine into a bowl and combine. Depending on how much cucumbers you use, use the ratio method to make the sauce. Seasoned rice vinegar, 2 parts. Sesame oil, 1 part. Mirin, 2 parts. No fuss with exact measurements, taste and adjust to your liking.
Combine the squeezed cucumber and wakame and combine in a bowl. Add in dressing, and toss.
Add in toasted sesame seeds. Its best to grind the seeds first- to release more of its natural aroma. But up to you.
Consume right away, or leave it chilling in the fridge. It will last about a week.
This dish is great side to rice, cold soba noodles, or with topping such as cold crab meat, or with cold soft tofu.
