A typical Japanese meal consists of one main dish of meat or seafood with rice and miso soup, complemented by several side dishes. Today’s recipe is a sweet and tangy Japanese Cucumber Salad with Crab (きゅうりとワカメと蟹の酢の物) that goes well with any dinner meal. This easy salad happens to be one of the side dishes that I prepare regularly.
A Classic Japanese Cucumber Salad for Your Everyday Meal
In Japan, this type of side dish or salad is called Sunomono (酢の物), which translated to “vinegar food”. Growing up, my mom made sure we have different kinds of side dishes including a sunomono dish during mealtime. The Japanese believe vinegar is an important part of our diet due to its many benefits such as controlling blood sugar levels. You can find out more information on vinegar here. The most typical sunomono includes thinly sliced cucumber and wakame seaweed dressed in rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar. We tend to overlook the health benefits of cucumbers, but they are actually high in fiber and great for digestion. That is why you can often find cucumber being served as salads in Japanese meals. To yield a better texture for the salad, sprinkle the cucumber with a little salt, and rub it gently to pull out some of the water so they stay crisp. The crunch of the cucumber matches well with the soft wakame seaweed in a delicious tangy vinegar dressing. For today’s recipe, I also added imitation crabmeat for some pop of color, but it’s completely optional. You can still enjoy it as a vegetarian dish without the crab sticks. Serve this Japanese Cucumber Salad as a refreshing accompaniment to chicken teriyaki, garlic saikoro steak, honey pork belly, or miso cod. Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
