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.
- 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)
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Remove both ends of cucumbers.
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Place two cucumbers on a cutting board at a time, sprinkle a large pinch of salt (not in ingredients) over the cucumbers.
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Using both hands, roll the cucumbers back and forth on the cutting board, putting slight pressure on the cucumbers (note 3).
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When the green juice starts coming out on the board, rinse the cucumbers and pat them dry with kitchen paper.
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Put the cucumbers and the remaining ingredients in a zip lock bag, remove the air as much as possible, and seal the bag.
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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.
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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.
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Alternatively, use 'rangiri' (roll cutting) method and pile up all the cucumber pieces in a large bowl.
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%