Salads

Sunomono Cucumber Salad

Sunomono simply means ‘vinegared thing’, and it’s the most refreshing salad we know. We salt paper-thin cucumber slices so they give up their water, then dress them in a mild sweet-sour rice vinegar mix. It’s crisp, cool and featherlight — exactly what you want next to something rich.

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Sunomono Cucumber Salad — the finished dish
Prep
15 min
Rest
20 min
Total
35 min
Servings
4
Level
Easy
Per serving
50 kcal

Ingredients

  • What to use instead

    Rice vinegar is milder than most. If you don’t have it, mix 3 tbsp cider vinegar with 1 tbsp water. Distilled white vinegar is too harsh here.

Makes: 4 small servings

Method

  1. Step 1: Slice the cucumbers

    If the skin is thick or bitter, peel off a few stripes. Slice the cucumbers as thinly as you can, 1–2 mm — a mandoline makes this easy.

  2. Step 2: Salt them

    Toss the cucumbers with the salt, massage lightly and leave for 10 minutes. They’ll turn floppy and release plenty of liquid.

  3. Step 3: Soak the wakame

    Cover the wakame with cold water for 5 minutes — it will swell and turn bright green. Drain, squeeze and chop any large pieces.

  4. Step 4: Make the dressing

    Stir the sugar into the rice vinegar and soy sauce until the crystals have completely dissolved.

  5. Step 5: Squeeze the cucumbers

    Squeeze the cucumbers firmly by the handful over the sink. This is the most important step — skip it and the salad turns watery and the dressing weak.

  6. Step 6: Dress and chill

    Toss the cucumbers and wakame with the dressing and chill for 10 minutes. Pile into small bowls and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Tips & variations

  • Swap

    Rice vinegar is milder than most. If you don’t have it, mix 3 tbsp cider vinegar with 1 tbsp water. Distilled white vinegar is too harsh here.

  • Tip

    Japanese, small ridged or long greenhouse cucumbers with thin skins and small seeds work best.

  • Variation

    For a non-vegan version, add cooked prawns or crab; for extra zing, grate a little fresh ginger into the dressing.

  • Storage

    Sunomono is best the day it’s made. It will keep in the fridge for a day, but the cucumbers slowly soften.

Nutrition

Approximate nutrition per serving and for the whole dish
1 serving Whole dish 4 servings
Energy50 kcal200 kcal
Protein2 g6 g
Fat2 g6 g
Carbohydrates8 g32 g

Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.

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