This edamame-enriched version of Korean cucumber salad is hot and spicy and sesame-infused. Delicious as a side dish or on rice in bi bim bap.
This summer’s weird, split-personality weather—first hot and dry and now hot and rainy—has wreaked havoc on most of the plants in my garden. The high heat in early summer kept my tomato plants from setting many fruits, and then when the few tomatoes that had formed were beginning to ripen, the sudden rain caused them to crack and burst open.
The one vegetable that’s doing well is the one I never intended to plant: Labeled “zucchini” when I bought them, two tiny plants turned out to be cucumbers, which is for the best because they’ve been much more fruitful than any of the squash I’m trying to grow.
Right now I’m harvesting one or two cucumbers a day, many more than my family normally eats. But those cucumbers will not be going to waste. In fact, I relish the opportunity to use them in one of our favorite dishes, Korean-Style Cucumber Salad, a fiery hot salad that we discovered years ago in Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East Vegetarian Cooking. In the past we’ve used it only as one of the toppings for Bi Bim Bab, but we love it so much that we could easily eat it as a side dish or condiment with just about any kind of cuisine, from Korean to Japanese to Indian.
Over the years I’ve adapted the recipe to make it with less sesame oil and salt, and this time around I made it a little heartier with the addition of edamame. For most people, it’s still more of a side dish than a main dish, but I’m not too embarrassed to admit that last night I ate two servings of it as my entire meal. It’s that good.
Of course, if you make it as hot as I do (and if you like spicy food, you really should), you might want to eat something along with it to douse the flames a little.
Korean-Style Cucumber and Edamame Salad
Ingredients
- 2 medium cucumbers (about 16 ounces) peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 1 medium onion , quartered and sliced
- 1 teaspoon Kosher flake salt
- 1 cup shelled edamame , prepared (boiled in salted water for 5 minutes)
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice , freshly squeezed
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper , or to taste
- 1/2 tsp toasted (dark) sesame oil (adds so much to the recipe but leave it out if you must)
Instructions
- Put the cucumber and onion slices into a mixing bowl and toss with salt. Allow to stand at room temperature for about an hour to draw out some of their moisture. Drain well in a colander. (If you’re avoiding salt, you can also rinse with cold water and allow to drain completely.)
- While the cucumbers are sweating, toast the sesame seeds. Place them in a dry skillet over medium-high heat and stir until they begin to brown. (Alternately, place on a baking sheet in a toaster oven and toast until light brown; watch carefully because they burn easily.) Once they are toasted, crush lightly with a mortar and pestle.
- Put the cucumber and onion back into the mixing bowl and add all remaining ingredients, including sesame seeds. Refrigerate to allow flavors to blend. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Nutritional info is approximate.
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Anonymous
August 2, 2009 at 1:53 pmMy daughter and I are enjoying this as I type. I made it exactly as written, except I substituted lime for the lemon because I was out of lemons. Thanks for the recipe!
A_and_N
August 2, 2009 at 1:54 pmI made it and loved it. Will post it soon 🙂
beachbubbles
August 11, 2009 at 9:06 amMmmm, this looks wonderful and I have all of the ingredients on hand- this is going on tonight's menu as a side for my coconut curry tempeh and noodles. Love your blog Susan!:)
Mary
August 16, 2009 at 6:52 pmDelicious! I made this with leftover pickling cucumbers. A perfect light meal for a hot night.
Chili
August 24, 2009 at 8:47 pmWow I love edamame and this looks seriously good.
Kayla
May 3, 2010 at 2:07 pmHi this looks great and I cant wait to try it!!! I think im going to make it a little differently thou!!
Since im not a fan of the seeds I will omit thous aswell as the oil and cayanne… Instead I think im going to make my “dressing” with the lemon juice, some rice vinigar and soya sauce!! I will also grate in some fresh ginger root!!!
Dont have any white onions on had so I will use red!!
MMM should be tasty!!
Jan Watson
July 28, 2010 at 8:41 pmI loved this with rice vinegar instead of lemon and red onions. 2nd year I’ve used some of my bumper cucumber crop in this recipe. Glad you re-Facebooked it!
Olga
September 3, 2010 at 10:37 amThis was exceptionally delicious. I made it was hot sesame oil instead (I need everything super spicy). Will be making it again ASAP.
Emma
July 19, 2011 at 8:37 pmI made this salad today and it was delicious! I have tons of cucumbers and edamame in my garden and so this was perfect for me. Thank you.
alua
July 26, 2012 at 4:19 pmI want it to be lunchtime already so I can make this (it’s past 10 p.m. now where I am).
Looks so yum!