Korean cucumber salad – dinner at eight

The cucumbers in Korea are a little different from our cucumbers. Externally they look more like a (pocky) country cucumber, but are slimmer. In addition, their flesh is lighter. More like a braised cucumber. In terms of taste, however, even outspoken cucumber purists would hardly notice any difference. A cucumber is just a cucumber. And that’s why it doesn’t matter where the cucumber for this salad comes from. Cucumbers and Tomatoes are the most popular vegetables anyway. Salad always works, gazpacho always works. Anything that is cold works particularly well right now.
Two days ago I was standing at the checkout line at the supermarket and watched as the lady in front of me pushed a family pack of popsicles down the conveyor belt. The cashier looked at the ice cream in disbelief. “Where did that come from?” she asked. From the basement, the woman answered with a mischievous smile, who was obviously a colleague. Aha, I thought, so you still have some. They’re probably rationing it because the refrigerator shelf has big gaps on the left edge. I can understand that somehow.

Maybe there is some buttermilk in the depths of the refrigerator, because I would have liked that, but here too there were gaps in the refrigerator shelf. At least – there were still small cucumbers and there was fresh garlic. You don’t need much to be happy right now. In the ever-decreasing variety of international cooking magazines (at this point I’m once again shedding a tear for “National Geographics FOOD“, “Lucky Peach” and “DeliciousUK“, who have all given up) they are currently celebrating the summer BBQ. I can still understand that with the Australian magazines, they have winter there, but who wants to voluntarily stand at a grill in this heat? I long for the evening hours because they at least bring a little cooling down and I wouldn’t exchange them for the best grilled dish for anything in the world.
We may talk about it again in late summer.
By the way, this salad is called in Korean Oi Mukhin.

Korean cucumber salad

350 g snack cucumbers
1 tsp sea salt
1 small shallot, finely sliced
1 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar or honey (alternatively maple syrup)
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 walnut-sized piece of ginger, grated
1 tbsp Gochugaru (Korean, mild-fruity chili flakes)

roasted sesame seeds

Cut the cucumbers into pieces, put them in a bowl and season with salt. Let stand for 20 minutes so that they absorb water.
Drain through a sieve and rinse with cold water. Then pat dry lightly. Add the shallot to the cucumbers.
Mix the remaining ingredients into a dressing and pour over the salad. Either serve immediately or chill again for half an hour.

If you like, add some fresh coriander.