Sunomono
Sunomono is a simple salad in which one thing matters: the cucumber must stay crisp. You get there by a paradox — salting it first and squeezing the water out. A dehydrated cucumber has nothing left to give to the dressing, so it does not dilute it, and at the same time takes it up better. Cucumbers for Polish mizeria are prepared in much the same way.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Salting the cucumber 20 min
- Dressing 5 min
- Marinating 15 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneSlice the cucumber paper thin
Cut the cucumber into slices 1–2 mm thick, ideally on a mandoline. A thicker slice stays watery in the middle and the dressing never reaches it — the point of sunomono is that the flavour reaches the core of every piece.
Ingredients: 500 g cucumber · 1 tsp salt
Translucent slices — a mandoline is the simplest route.Salt and wait twenty minutes
Toss the slices with the salt and leave for 20 minutes. The cucumber will give up a surprising amount of water — several tablespoons from half a kilo is normal. Without this the dressing dilutes within a quarter of an hour and the salad tastes of nothing.
Ingredients: 500 g cucumber · 1 tsp salt
Squeeze out the water by hand
Gather the slices in your fist and squeeze hard, two or three times. Do not worry about bruising them — that is exactly what gives sunomono its characteristic limp-yet-crunchy texture. Do not rinse: the salt should stay.
Ingredients: 500 g cucumber · 1 tsp salt
Squeeze hard — there is more water than you expect.Soak the seaweed separately
Cover the wakame with cold water for 8 minutes and squeeze it out. Dried seaweed expands several times over — dropped straight into the dressing it would soak up most of the liquid.
Ingredients: 10 g wakame seaweed · 1 tbsp sesame seeds
Mix the dressing cold
Whisk the rice vinegar with the sugar, soy sauce and grated ginger until the sugar dissolves. There is no need to heat it — the sugar dissolves after a few minutes of stirring, and the vinegar keeps its full, fresh aroma.
Ingredients: 60 ml rice vinegar · 2 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp soy sauce · 10 g ginger
Everything cold, no heating.Combine and rest a quarter of an hour
Mix the cucumber with the seaweed and dressing and leave for 15 minutes at room temperature. No longer is needed — after an hour the cucumber starts to soften and loses its crunch.
Ingredients: 60 ml rice vinegar · 2 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp soy sauce · 10 g ginger
Sesame at the last moment
Transfer to small bowls with the dressing — there is little of it and it is drunk at the end. Scatter the toasted sesame only at the table so it stays crisp.
Ingredients: 10 g wakame seaweed · 1 tbsp sesame seeds
Before you start
Which cucumber
A long greenhouse or Japanese cucumber is best: thin skin and few seeds. A field cucumber has to be peeled and seeded, or the salad stays watery despite the salting.
Versions with additions
Thin slices of cooked octopus, prawns or strips of thin omelette often go in. That turns a side dish into a light meal, and the dressing proportions stay the same.
Dressing in advance
The dressing alone (vinegar, sugar, soy) keeps up to a month in a closed jar in the fridge. It works for other quick pickles too — worth making a jar to keep on hand.
