Korean style cucumber salad, a new way of understanding the side dish

A few ingredients are enough to transform a simple side dish into something extraordinary and the Korean cucumber salad is proof of this.

Cucumbers are a typically summer vegetable that in our country is usually eaten in salads , seasoned with a drizzle of oil, one of vinegar and a pinch of salt. Always using very few ingredients, however, it is possible to create a fresh and delicious side dish. We are talking about the Korean cucumber salad.

In this recipe of Asian cuisine, chilli pepper is the master, an ingredient without which the dish would not make much sense. The ideal would be to use the typical Korean pepper, called Gochugaru , but what you have at home, fresh, dried or in paste, will be fine. Rice vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil, ingredients that are rarely used in our kitchens but are still easy to find in well-stocked supermarkets, give this cucumber salad a boost of flavor.

How to make the Korean cucumber salad recipe

1. First wash the cucumbers and with a potato peeler remove the peel in strips , leaving a sort of zebra pattern. Then cut into slices a couple of millimeters thick with the help of a mandolin or a sharp knife. If the cucumbers are too big, you can cut them in half lengthwise and eventually remove part of the seeds.
2. Finely chop the garlic or mash it with the special tool.
3. Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, oil, garlic and sugar in a glass jar with a lid, close and shake well. Use the emulsion to season the cucumbers after placing them on the plate.
4. Add a quantity of chilli pepper to taste and finally decorate with sesame seeds before serving.

Also try the delicious and very light Japanese-style cucumber salad : given how many recipes there are with cucumbers?

storage

It would be best to consume the freshly made cucumber salad, especially if you have already seasoned it.