Wakame and Cucumber Salad in a Japanese vinaigrette

Wakame and Cucumber Salad in a Japanese vinaigrette

Here's a Japanese recipe to put the humble but healthy cucumber on top of the taste chart - Wakame and Cucumber salad in a Japanese vinaigrette.

The key to the dish is the lightness of the marinade and the thinly sliced cucumber which absorbs the delicate sweet rice vinegar - this together with the delicate flavour of the wakame seaweed creates a very pleasant tasting experience.

In Japan, this dish is traditionally served in small portions as part of a high class dinner as a palate cleanser but it's so tasty (not to mention healthy) that it really deserves its own billing. (Cucumber is rich in vitamins K, A and C as well as folate and magnesium while wakame contains copper, calcium manganese and iron, so they should be a regular part of everybody's diet.) You can eat this salad as a starter or as a side dish and it takes only minutes to prepare.

You can find my recipe below and the youtube tutorial by clicking Wakame and Cucumber Salad or scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Happy marinading! Kurumi XXXX.

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Wakame and Cucumber Salad

ingredients:

(serves 4 as a side dish)

1 medium cucumber, thinly sliced

2 tbsp dried wakame seaweed

2.5 tbsp japanese rice vinegar

1.5 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp roasted sesame seeds

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how to:

to make the marinade, mix the sugar with vinegar until the sugar has dissolved

soak the dried wakame in a water for 5 minutes in a bowl, then drain and squeeze any excess water from the seaweed

sprinkle the salt over the cucumber in a bowl and mix it well using your hand. leave it for 15 minutes, then squeeze any excess water from the cucumber

mix the cucumber and wakame in the bowl and add the vinegar mixture

garnish with the sesame seeds.

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Wakame and Cucumber Salad in a Japanese vinaigrette