165 recipes. Page 1 of 7
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In Miyazaki, chicken breast fried in an egg coating is dipped into warm, sweet-sour nanban vinegar and then topped with cold tartar sauce. Unlike ordinary fried chicken, the coating ends up moist rather than crisp. The tartar sauce has chopped boiled egg, cucumber and onion in it, enough to give it some crunch.
White, slippery mung bean jelly is mixed with strips of cucumber and carrot in a tangy soy and vinegar dressing. The thin jelly breaks if stirred, so it is lifted from the bottom with chopsticks about six times and no more.
The name sounds like a vegetable pickle, but this Akita dish is mostly a chilled rice base cooked with sugar and sharpened with vinegar. Soaked rice is ground with a few grains left whole, which gives it a slightly nubbly texture. Cucumber and turnip go in only once the base is completely cold, to keep their crunch, and seasonal fruit sits on top.
Canned whelk is warmed briefly in a gochujang sauce sharpened with vinegar, then tossed off the heat with raw onion, cucumber and scallion. Unlike the cold whelk salad, the sauce here is warm while the vegetables stay raw and crunchy.
Ice-cold shredded cabbage, lettuce, and cucumber sit under hot, crisp frozen dumplings, mixing two temperatures and two kinds of crunch in every forkful. The dressing of gochujang, vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil tastes sweet, sour, and spicy all at once. The dumplings are store-bought frozen ones, and they go on just before eating so they stay crisp.
Minari, apple, cucumber and a small piece of ginger are blended with cold water. Poured straight from the blender, the juice is thick and fibrous; passed once through cheesecloth, it turns clear and green. A tart apple keeps it from leaning too sweet.
Chicken thigh charred over high heat and cold cucumber yogurt go into a warm pita together. Hot meat against cold sauce in the same bite is the whole point of the wrap, and it is eaten the moment it is rolled. The cucumber gets a light squeeze before it meets the yogurt, which keeps the sauce from turning thin.
The water the chicken was poached in is chilled right through, sharpened with vinegar and hot mustard, and poured over shredded breast meat and julienned cucumber. Lukewarm, the mustard and the vinegar both go flat, so keep it in the fridge until the moment you serve it.
Sea bream fillet is spread flat, layered with cucumber, carrot and oyster mushrooms, then rolled and steamed into a log of white fish wrapped around a core of color. The soy, vinegar and sesame oil sauce sits on the side rather than being cooked in, which keeps the mild bream tasting of itself.
Thin slices of cucumber, eggplant, lotus root and carrot share the bowl with chewy wood ear mushroom, shiso and ginger, and each bite lands somewhere different on the crunch scale. Each vegetable is prepped on its own terms: the hard lotus root and carrot get a short blanch, while the softer cucumber and eggplant are rubbed with salt instead. The sweet vinegar with sliced red chili is boiled once and then cooled all the way down. Poured on while still warm, it costs the cucumber and lotus root their snap. Squeezing the salted cucumber and eggplant hard after rinsing keeps the dressing from going watery. Half an hour in the fridge is enough before serving it cold with its liquid.
Tamarind gives this fish broth its sour backbone, with flaked mackerel and rice noodles underneath and cucumber and mint on top. A finely blended paste of onion, garlic, and ginger forms the base and carries the chili heat. The mackerel is cooked and boned before it goes into the soup, so the bowl is easy to eat. Cucumber and mint add a cool, fresh finish to the hot, sour broth.
Ice-chilled angel hair takes a dressing of chogochujang (Korean chili paste sharpened with vinegar and sugar), loosened with olive oil and lemon juice, that tastes spicy, sour, and sweet at once. Sweet crab meat and crunchy cucumber soften the heat, and the juice of cherry tomatoes thins the thick dressing on the plate. Capellini, among the thinnest pastas, overcooks fast and sticks together at room temperature unless it is chilled the moment it leaves the pot. The chilled noodles are pressed lightly in the sieve to shed their water, which would otherwise thin the dressing. Salt waits until the very end, since chogochujang varies in saltiness.
Chewy abalone, slippery sea mustard, and crisp cucumber with red cabbage give this cold salad three textures in every forkful. The whole dish hinges on a blanch of about 40 seconds followed by ice water, because abalone toughens quickly with heat. The dressing of lemon juice, plum syrup, and soup soy sauce stays light, supporting the shellfish's natural brininess instead of masking it. Serve it chilled as a summer starter or ahead of grilled dishes.
Cold tzatziki over warm grains and pan-seared salmon gives this bowl its contrast in temperature. The Greek sauce mixes thick yogurt with cucumber, garlic, lemon, and dill, and the dill cuts through the richness of the fish. Brown rice or quinoa both work as the base, and halved cherry tomatoes add a bright, sweet note.
In the Reihoku area of Fukui, this was set out for meals without meat or fish: Hoonko, the big Jodo Shinshu observance, and funerals and memorial services. Fu, a light and porous wheat gluten, drinks the mustard vinegar miso right through, so each bite gives off sharp mustard and sweet miso together.
The kelp strips soak in cold water for 10 minutes to lose some salt, then get just 20 seconds in boiling water before going straight into a cold rinse. Tossed with seeded cucumber strips in a gochugaru, vinegar and soy dressing, they chill for at least 10 minutes before serving.
The rice gets sesame oil and salt, no vinegar. Pick an avocado that gives slightly when pressed yet holds its shape when sliced: underripe fruit is coarse to chew, and overripe fruit gets crushed by the bamboo mat. Cut avocado loses color and texture quickly, and it is prepared right before rolling.
The cucumber here is cooked, but only until it is warm and glossy, never soft in the middle. Soup soy sauce and a little chili flakes are the only seasonings, giving a faint red tint with no real heat. The tofu is browned on its own and folded back in at the end.
This is Peking duck without the restaurant setup: no hanging the bird, just a rack in a home oven. The skin needs to dry overnight in the fridge, so it starts the day before, and the carved duck is wrapped in thin pancakes with cucumber, scallion and hoisin. Home ovens vary, so don't count on the paper-thin crackling of a restaurant duck.
Acorn jelly tastes of little beyond a faint astringency, and the flavor of this bowl comes from the sweet-sour chilled broth and chopped kimchi. The jelly is cut into sturdy sticks, topped with cucumber strips, and brought to the table the moment the cold broth is poured over.
Hollowed cucumber sections are packed with a filling of ground chicken, tofu, and carrot, then steamed upright so each piece has a crisp green shell around a soft, juicy center. Seasoning stays minimal, just soy sauce, garlic, and sesame oil, and steaming without oil keeps much of the cucumber's fresh aroma. Seon is a style of stuffed, steamed dish from Korean court cooking, and a little mustard sauce or vinegared soy alongside adds a sharp note.
Unlike soy-based Korean jangajji, this Western-style pickle of vinegar, sugar, bay leaf and black peppercorns leans sweet and sour. A 10-minute salting draws water from the 1 cm rounds before they meet the brine, keeping the liquid strong, and its sharp first acidity mellows into the sweetness as the jar chills.
With only gochujang, vinegar and sugar in the dressing, this bunsik-shop noodle dish lives on the texture of the noodles. A thorough cold rinse is what makes sweet potato glass noodles springy, because any warmth left after draining keeps them softening until they stick into a clump. The dressing keeps in the fridge, but the noodles should meet it only just before eating, or they soak it up and turn soft.
Rice-shaped orzo, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, parsley and mint come together in a cold lemon and olive oil salad that holds up well when made ahead for lunch. Orzo keeps softening as it soaks up the dressing, so it comes out of the water 1 minute early to stay pleasantly firm. Feta is crumbled in large pieces by hand, leaving salty pockets rather than an even coating.