Recipe: Pickled Japanese cucumber (kyuri asazuke)

When it comes to cucumbers, we prefer kyuri (Japanese cucumbers) over any other variety since they have less seeds (ie burpless cucumbers). The skin is thin, hence we usually eat everything... no wastage. I don't really like eating raw cucumber on its own but I LOVE pickled cucumbers.

Asazuke is a Japanese pickling method characterized by its short preparation time. This pickled cucumber recipe is very simple - it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare (cut) and you just need to marinate it for a minimum of 40 minutes. We love having it as a side dish to our dinner, especially if we're having oily or fatty food. Plus it's very appetizing and has a lovely crunchy texture as well as retaining the fresh taste of the vegetable!

An accompaniment to our rice topped with sesame seeds, Japanese nori seaweed and masago/tobiko. :) 

Pickled cucumber (kyuri)
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Serves 6

Ingredients
2 Japanese cucumber (kyuri), washed
1 tsp salt
2 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp white vinegar


1. You can either peel the skin off the cucumber or leave them on (depending on personal preference). Most of the time we leave the skin on and then cut them into 2cm chunks and quarter them.

2. If you're peeling them, you can also follow the above method, and quarter them. Or another nice way of serving them are as "cucumber ribbons". Firstly, peel the skin off the cucumber. Use the peeler to peel long strips.Get as close as you can get to the centre but discard the seeds.

Cucumber ribbons

3. Place the cucumber in a bowl and marinate with the salt and sugar for 30 minutes.

4. Quickly rinse with water twice and drain well.

4. Add the white vinegar and mix well. Leave for 10 mins and it is ready to serve. Alternatively, this can be kept in a container and stored in the refridgerator.

Kyuri asazuke

Full set of photos can be viewed on my Facebook page here.