Smashed Cucumber Salad with Ume Dressing たたききゅうりの梅ドレッシング和え

Smashed Cucumber Salad with Ume Dressing is a perfect dish to re-energize the body and mind. With a refreshing crunch and bright and punchy Japanese dressing, it’s the kind of side dish that your body craves. I couldn’t love it more!

We’re entering the last weeks of August and I’m reminded to savor the best of the season harvest before summer ends. This Smashed Cucumber Salad with Ume Dressing (たたききゅうりの梅ドレッシング和え) couldn’t have come at a better time.

This salad has a refreshing crunch and a punchy dressing with a bright flavor. It’s a wonderful side dish to serve with your meal to cleanse the palate. It’s a feel-good, detox salad that my body’s been craving. Let me teach you how to make this simple salad!

What is Smashed Cucumber Salad?

In Japan, we call smashed cucumber tataki kyuri (たたききゅうり) and often use it in salad and tsukemono (pickles). We combine it with a refreshing dressing that includes sake and mirin instead of rice vinegar. Since the cucumbers in this dish are fresh, we’ll bring the dressing mixture to a boil so the alcohol content evaporates. We want the flavor and umami from the sake and mirin, but not the alcohol.

The dressing features umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum) that we enjoy all year round but especially in summertime. Due to the citric acid and salt, umeboshi has a distinctive sour and salty taste. It helps keep harmful bacteria at bay and has powerful restorative quality that help you recover from fatigue. That’s why we intentionally eat umeboshi as it helps to replenish the salt and water you lose on hot summer days.

Why Smash the Cucumbers?

You may wonder why we smash the beautiful cucumbers. Smashing the whole cucumber creates more surface area compared to uniformly cutting the cucumber pieces. The more open the surface is, the more the flavor absorbs into the cucumber. We typically use a wooden rolling pin or surikogi (Japanese pestle) to do the job. Once the cucumber starts to crack, we use our hands to tear it further.

This smashed cucumber technique is also used in Chinese and Korean dishes that dress the cucumbers in sesame oil, chili, sesame seeds, and a generous pinch of salt. Does your cuisine use this method with cucumbers or other vegetables, too?

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Japanese or Persian cucumbers – these two varieties have less seeds, so they work the better than English cucumbers or America
• myoga ginger – you can substitute grated ginger, or skip
• umeboshi (Japanese pickled plums)
• dashi (Japanese soup stock) – use standard Awase Dashi, dashi packet or powder, or Vegan Dashi
• sake
• mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
• soy sauce

Variations and Substitutions

Skip the myoga. In today’s recipe, I added myoga ginger as I had some in handy. If you don’t have it, you can use a tiny bit of regular ginger for the zing or just leave it out. There are plenty of flavors in the dressing already.

Add a touch of heat. If you love spicy food, add some chili oil or dried chili pepper. Japanese Chili Oil and Crunchy Garlic Chili Oil with crispy shallots are both good options.

Add different salad ingredients like lettuce, tomatoes, or radish to the cucumbers.

Add citrus flavor. If you like tartness, garnish the salad with yuzu peel. Or, you can squeeze lime juice or lemon juice on top for a splash of bright flavor.

How to Make Smashed Cucumber Salad with Ume Dressing

1. Make the umeboshi sauce. Combine the sake, mirin, soy sauce, and dashi in a small saucepan. Mix the dressing ingredients well and bring it to a boil, then turn off and set aside. 
2. Slice the myoga ginger thinly.
3. Remove the seed from the umeboshi. Pound it into a paste with a knife. Add the umeboshi paste into the umeboshi sauce mixture. Mix to combine and set aside.
4. Smash the Japanese cucumber on a cutting board with a wooden rolling pin or a surikogi (Japanese wooden pestle). The skin will begin to crack and the flesh will break down. Tear the cucumber with your hands and continue smashing until the cucumber breaks down into bite-size pieces.
5. Add the fresh ingredients and umeboshi sauce to a bowl. Toss and serve on small plates.

You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

The salad is simple yet absolutely divine! Not only it is a fresh take on cucumber salad, it is also a breeze to whip up. I love serving it with a Cold Somen Noodle for lunch or with Grilled Mackerel for dinner.

Other Umeboshi Recipes on JOC

• Ume Shiso Pasta
• Ume Shiso Rice
• Plum Rice Ball

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.

Smashed Cucumber Salad with Ume Dressing

4.34 from 30 votes

Smashed Cucumber Salad with Ume Dressing is a perfect dish to re-energize the body and mind. With a refreshing crunch and bright and punchy Japanese dressing, it's the kind of side dish that your body craves. I couldn't love it more!

Print Pin

Prep Time: 12 minutes mins

Cook Time: 3 minutes mins

Total Time: 15 minutes mins

Servings: 4 (as side dish)

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 Japanese or Persian cucumbers (12 oz, 348 g; these two varieties have less seeds, so they work the best)
• ▢ 2 myoga ginger (or substitute ¼ tsp grated ginger or skip)
• ▢ 2 umeboshi (Japanese pickled plums) (see my tutorial if you‘re interested in making Homemade Umeboshi)

For the Umeboshi Sauce

• ▢ 3 Tbsp dashi (Japanese soup stock)
• ▢ 2 Tbsp sake
• ▢ 1 Tbsp mirin
• ▢ 1 Tbsp soy sauce

Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

 

• Gather all the ingredients.
  

To Make the Umeboshi Sauce

• In a small saucepan, combine all the Umeboshi Sauce ingredients: 3 Tbsp dashi (Japanese soup stock), 2 Tbsp sake, 1 Tbsp mirin, and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Mix well and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, turn off the heat and set aside.
  
• Discard the bottoms of 2 myoga ginger and cut into thin slices.
  
• Make a slit on the flesh of 2 umeboshi (Japanese pickled plums) and remove the seed. With the knife, pound it into a paste form.
  
• Add the umeboshi paste into the Umeboshi Sauce mixture. Mix to combine and set aside.
  

To Prepare the Cucumber

• Cut off the ends of 2 Japanese or Persian cucumbers and start mashing the cucumber with a wooden rolling pin or a surikogi (Japanese wooden pestle). The skin will begin to crack and the flesh will break down.
  
• You can tear the cucumber with your hands and continue smashing until the flesh breaks down to pieces.
  
• Put the smashed cucumber pieces into a bowl, add the myoga ginger, and pour the umeboshi sauce on top. Mix all together and serve!
  

To Store

• You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Enjoy it soon.

Nutrition

Calories: 31 kcal · Carbohydrates: 6 g · Protein: 1 g · Fat: 1 g · Saturated Fat: 1 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 1 g · Sodium: 246 mg · Potassium: 48 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 1 g · Vitamin A: 29 IU · Vitamin C: 5 mg · Calcium: 5 mg · Iron: 1 mg

Author: Namiko Hirasawa Chen

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: cucumber, myoga, umeboshi

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