Japanese Pickled Cucumbers – two ways

I am sharing two different recipes for Japanese Pickled Cucumbers today. One of them is a traditional pickle recipe, Salt Pickled Cucumbers. The other recipe uses shiro dashi and sesame oil to pickle cucumbers – the kind that you might see served at izakaya (Japanese-style taverns).

Both are very simple to make but you need to be patient and wait for a day or so before you can enjoy the flavoursome freshly pickled cucumbers.

Japanese-style Pickled cucumbers

When you Google search ‘pickled cucumbers’ in English, you will see many pictures of cucumbers pickled in jars. The pickling liquid is by far based on vinegar, with or without spices/herbs.

But in Japan, Google searching the same in Japanese returns many pictures of cucumbers pickled in salt. Salt pickling is the oldest and simplest method of ‘tsukemono’ (漬物, pickling). Even now, this method of pickling cucumbers is popular among Japanese households. This is one of my recipes today.

As new seasonings were introduced, people invented the new ways of pickling cucumbers. In the Edo period (1603-1868), many other pickling methods were introduced. Other pickling bases for cucumbers include:

• Nukazuke (糠漬け) – rice bran
• Shōyuzuke (醤油漬け) – soy sauce
• Kasuzuke (粕漬け) – sake lees
• Shibazuke (柴漬け) – red perilla leaves
• Misozuke (味噌漬け) – miso
• Karashizuke (辛子漬け) – Japanese mustard
• Wasabizuke (わさび漬け) – wasabi

Many new ways of pickling vegetables were tried and become popular since then. However, my second recipe, Shiro Dashi Pickled Cucumbers is none of the above. For a pickling base, I used shiro dashi, which only started appearing in the market in 1978.

How to Make Traditional Salt Pickled Cucumbers

You will need:

• Cucumbers – thin cucumbers such as Lebanese/Persian cucumbers or Japanese cucumbers
• Salt – about 3.5% of the weight of the cucumbers
• Water – same weight as cucumbers
• Konbu (dried kelp) – 5cm x 5cm / 2″ x 2″ per 350-400g / 0.8-0.9lb cucumber

You don’t have to have konbu but it gives umami to the pickles. If you wish, you can also add sliced dried red chilies.

After you prepare the cucumbers using salt, place the whole cucumbers and the remaining ingredients in a zip lock bag and pickle for 1-2 days in the fridge.

How to Make Shiro Dashi Pickled Cucumbers

You need a few more pickling ingredients for Shiro Dashi Pickled Cucumbers but still only 4 items. You will need:

• Cucumbers – thin cucumbers such as Lebanese/Persian cucumbers or Japanese cucumbers
• Shiro dashi – 1 tablespoon per about 250g / 0.6lb of cucumber
• Sesame oil – ⅔ of the quantity of shiro dashi
• Salt – ⅙ of the quantity of shiro dashi
• Sliced dried red chilies

As you can see in my Shiro Dashi (Seasoned Dashi stock) Recipe, shiro dashi is made of typical Japanese seasonings with plenty of bonito flakes and konbu. Since it is a condensed, seasoned dashi stock, you will need only a small amount of it to pickle cucumbers.

The amount of salt used here is much less than for Salted Pickled Cucumbers. So, the cucumbers are prepared to allow for easier penetration of the pickling liquid into the flesh of the cucumbers. See the recipe card for details of how to prepare cucumbers for this pickling method.

Just like Salted Pickled Cucumbers, once the cucumbers are prepared, simply put the cucumbers and the rest of the ingredients in a zip lock bag and store it in the fridge.

You can eat the Shiro Dashi Pickled Cucumbers after 3-4 hours of pickling. But if you leave them at least overnight upto 24 hours, it will make the flavour of the cucumbers stronger.

Serving Cucumbers

Left: halved lengthwise, then sliced, Right: roll cut (rangiri)

Salted Pickled Cucumbers are typically served by slicing them diagonally into about 7mm-1cm thick pieces. This is the traditional way of serving pickled cucumbers. If the cucumber is a little bit fat, you should halve it vertically, then diagonally slice halves so that each slice is not too large to eat.

You can also serve it by applying the roll cutting (rangiri) method. It gives a totally different appearance to the same dish. I think that this method is suitable when serving a mound of pickled cucumbers to nibble/share.

In the case of Shiro Dashi Pickled Cucumbers, you can serve it in a more dynamic way, in addition to the traditional serving methods above.

Poke a wooden chopstick from one end of the cucumber and push it through the centre of the whole cucumber piece, so that the cucumber looks like an ice pop – cucumber pop! This is how some izakaya and festival stalls sell it.

I cut the cucumbers in half for faster pickling in shiro dashi, but if you pickle whole cucumbers, you can make amazing cucumber pops that are fun and delicious to eat.

I like both types of Pickled Cucumbers. Salted Pickled Cucumbers are great served as a small side dish for day-to-day meals. Shiro Dashi Pickled Cucumbers are perfect for nibbles to go with drinks.

Yumiko

5 from 1 vote

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Salt Pickled Cucumbers

Prep Time

5 mins

Pickling Time

1 d

Total Time

1 d 5 mins

 

Salted Pickled Cucumbers are made with the simplest and oldest method of pickling. It is so simple that it takes a mere 5 minutes to pickle the cucumbers. But you need to leave the pickles for 1-2 days before enjoying them.

Recipe Type: Appetizer, Side

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: pickled cucumbers, tsukemono

Serves: 8 as a side

Author: Yumiko

Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)

• 4 Lebanese cucumbers (350-400g / 0.8-0.9lb, note 1)
• 300ml / 10oz water
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 sheet konbu (5cm x 5cm / 2” x 2”), cut into strips (note 2)

Instructions

1. Remove both ends of cucumbers.
2. Place two cucumbers on a cutting board at a time, sprinkle a large pinch of salt (not in ingredients) over the cucumbers.

3. Using both hands, roll the cucumbers back and forth on the cutting board, putting slight pressure on the cucumbers (note 3).

4. When the green juice starts coming out on the board, rinse the cucumbers and pat them dry with kitchen paper.

5. Put the cucumbers and the remaining ingredients in a zip lock bag, remove the air as much as possible, and seal the bag.

6. Place the bag on a plate or in a container (in case the bag leaks), ensuring that cucumbers do not overlap, and leave them in the fridge overnight, up to 2 days.

To Serve

1. Diagonally slice the cucumber into 7mm-1cm / ¼"-⅜” thick pieces. If the cucumber is a bit fat, halve it vertically first, then slice diagonally. It looks nice when you place the sliced cucumbers together.

2. Alternatively, use 'rangiri' (roll cutting) method and pile up all the cucumber pieces in a large bowl.

Recipe Notes

1. Lebanese cucumber is called Persian cucumber in other countries. You can also use other types of thin cucumbers such as Japanese cucumbers (their skin is not tough).

2. You can omit konbu if you don't have it. But konbu adds umami to the pickles.

3. This will bruise the cucumbers to allow for better penetration of the salt into the flesh.

4. Nutrition per serving as side. It assumes 60% of the salt is absorbed into the cucumbers.

serving: 51g calories: 7.7kcal fat: 0.1g (0%) saturated fat: 0g (0%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 0g monounsaturated fat: 0g cholesterol: 0mg (0%) sodium: 341mg (14%) potassium: 74mg (2%) carbohydrates: 1.9g (1%) dietary fibre: 0.3g (1%) sugar: 0.8g protein: 0.3g vitamin a: 1% vitamin c: 2.4% calcium: 0.7% iron: 0.9%

5 from 1 vote

Print

Shiro Dashi Pickled Cucumbers

Prep Time

5 mins

Pickling Time

1 d

Total Time

1 d 5 mins

 

This is a delicious pickled dish with a great deal of umami added to the pickling liquid. The addition of sesame oil brings the flavour up to the next level.

Serve them by cutting them into bite-size pieces or serve a whole cucumber on a stick like an ice pop as served at izakaya and festival stalls (see the photo in post).

Recipe Type: Appetiser, Side

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: pickled cucumbers, tsukemono

Serves: 8 as a side

Author: Yumiko

Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)

• 4 Lebanese cucumbers (350-400g / 0.8-0.9lb, note 1)
• 1½ tbsp shiro dashi (note 2)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp dried red chilli sliced (note 3)

Instructions

1. Remove both ends of cucumbers.
2. Using a peeler, peel the skin of the cucumbers vertically 4 times, rotating the cucumber 90 degrees so that you will have green and white vertical stripes (see the photo in post).

3. Cut each cucumber in half to make two half-length cucumbers (optional).

4. Put the cucumbers in a zip lock bag, add all the remaining ingredients to the bag and massage the bag, ensuring that all cucumbers are coated with the marinade.
5. Remove the air from the bag as much as possible and seal.
6. Place the bag in a plastic container (in case the bag leaks) and chill for minimum 3 hours, preferably 24 hours.

To Serve

1. Use 'rangiri' (roll cutting) method or cut each cucumber into thick discs (about 2cm thick) and serve.

2. Alternatively, poke a wooden chopstick from one end of the cucumber and push it through the centre of the whole cucumber piece. The cucumber looks like an ice pop – cucumber pop! This is how some izakaya and festival stalls sell it. (see the photo in the post)

Recipe Notes

1. Lebanese cucumber is called Persian cucumber in other countries. You can also use other types of thin cucumbers such as Japanese cucumbers (their skin is not tough).

2. You can either use home-made shiro dashi or store-bought shiro dashi.

3. Two teaspoons of sliced chilies give a hint of spiciness to the marinated cucumbers. You can adjust the quantity to suit to your palate.

4. Nutrition per serving. It assumes that 60% of salt and sesame oil is consumed.

serving: 57g calories: 27kcal fat: 1.2g (2%) saturated fat: 0.2g (1%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 0.5g monounsaturated fat: 0.5g cholesterol: 0.3mg (0%) sodium: 183mg (8%) potassium: 79mg (2%) carbohydrates: 2.9g (1%) dietary fibre: 0.3g (1%) sugar: 1.7g protein: 0.5g vitamin a: 1% vitamin c: 2.4% calcium: 0.7% iron: 0.9%