Japanese-Style Cucumbers

Japanese-style cucumbers are a great quick side dish for any meal.  A huge hit with the kids, it is often requested to be added to the menu. 

These are best made when you are ready to serve them.  Don’t mix everything together too far in advance as the salt will pull the moisture out of the cucumbers making them a bit limp after about an hour or so.  If you want to pack for lunch, mix up all the sauce ingredients and pack separately from the sliced cucumbers.  Mix just before eating.  

These are not limited to a side dish.  They make a great healthy afternoon snack.  My kids fight over who gets seconds whenever I make these.  They make a frequent appearance since not one of my three kids complains about eating their vegetables when these are on the menu. These are quick to put together and go great with this delicious recipe for Easy Sesame Chicken. 

Put some on your menu for tonight, you will not be disappointed. 

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Japanese-Style Cucumbers

A quick delicious side dish (or snack). This recipe goes great with many meals. Don't limit yourself to only making this with Asian dishes.

Course Side Dish

Ingredients

• 1-2 each cucumbers, thinly sliced see note about cucumber type
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• ¼-½ teaspoon sugar just a tad to cut the vinegar a bit
• ½ teaspoon soy sauce I just a small splash
• 2 teaspoons dark sesame oil aka toasted sesame oil
• ½-1 teaspoon sesame seeds
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced

Instructions

• Thinly slice the cucumber and place it into a medium bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and toss well to coat, serve immediately.

Notes

I prefer using the English hot-house cucumbers that have the thin peel.  There is no need to peel those, just wash and thinly slice. 

If you use a standard cucumber found in American grocery stores, I recommend peeling those as they have a very thick (and often coated in wax) peel.  You will also want to cut them in half and scoop out the seeds. Once you thinly slice the cucumber,  it will look like crescent moons and still taste great. It won't hurt anything to leave the peel on, this is a purely personal preference.