Cucumber Sunomono

A cool, glassy Japanese vinegar salad of paper-thin cucumbers with a sweet-sour bite.

  • Serves4
  • Prep20 min
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Ingredients

  • 1 lb cucumbers, thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup rice vinegar
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

Method

  1. Slice the cucumbers as thin as you can manage, ideally on a mandoline.
  2. Toss the slices with the salt and let them wilt for ten minutes.
  3. Gather the slices in your hands and gently squeeze out the salty water.
  4. Stir the rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and ginger together until the sugar dissolves.
  5. Fold the drained cucumbers into the dressing and chill for at least fifteen minutes.
  6. Lift the cucumbers into small bowls and finish with a shower of sesame seeds.
Sunomono is a natural home for this Japanese heirloom, whose sweet, crisp flesh needs no seeding before it goes into the su dressing. The few small seeds inside stay tender, so every thin slice turns glassy and clean in the sweet-sour brine. It is the kind of dish this cucumber was bred for.