This Smashed Cucumber Salad with Ume Dressing is a perfect dish to re-energize the body and mind. It has all the bright flavor and packed with healthy and cleansing properties. 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.
With a refreshing crunch and bright punchy dressing, this is a feel-good, detox salad that my body’s been craving for.
Why Smashed Cucumbers?
In Japan, smashed cucumber is called Tataki Kyuri (たたききゅうり), and often used in salad and tsukemono (pickles). You may wonder why we have to smash the beautiful cucumbers.
Smashed cucumbers create more surface spaces compared to uniformly cut cucumber pieces. The more open surface the cucumber has, the more flavors would go into the cucumber!
We typically smash cucumbers with a wooden rolling pin or surikogi (Japanese pestle). Once the cucumber starts to crack, we use our hands to tear it further.
This smashed cucumber techniques are also used in Chinese and Korean dishes. Does your cuisine do this trick, too?

Sour, Salty, Yet Refreshing Umeboshi Dressing
We enjoy umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum) all year round, but we especially eat it in summertime. Due to the citric acid and salt, umeboshi has a distinctive sour and salty taste. It is appreciated for its ability to keep harmful bacteria at bay and powerful restorative effects that help you recover from fatigue.
With that in mind, we intentionally eat umeboshi as it helps to replenish the salt and water you might lost on hot summer days.
To make the dressing, we need:
- Umeboshi
- Dashi stock (or water)
- Sake
- Mirin
- Soy sauce
Since the cucumbers are kept fresh, we’ll bring the dressing mixture to a boil so that alcohol content from sake and mirin will be evaporated. We want the flavors and umami from sake and mirin, but we do not need the alcohol.
In today’s recipe, I added myoga ginger as I had some in handy. If you don’t have one, you can use a tiny bit of regular ginger for the zing or just leave it out. There’s plenty of flavors in the dressing already.
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

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Smashed Cucumber Salad with Ume Dressing
Ingredients
- 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
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.
I tried to follow your recipe but my salad came out very thin. So I’m wondering if I interpreted something incorrectly. With the amount of cucumber: at 2 cucumbers (12oz), does this mean 2 cucumbers for total 12 oz or each cucumber weight 12 oz. Also when measuring dashi, would this be 6 Tbsp of concentrated liquid dashi (I used Yamaki Kappo Shirodashi, concentrated) or a diluted ratio, I did 1:5.
Hello, Grace! Thank you for taking the time to read Nami’s post and trying out her recipe.
The recipe lists the weight of each ingredient, and for this recipe, two Japanese cucumbers amount to 12 oz. When the recipe mentions Dashi, it is not the concentrated.
You can find the recipe at https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-dashi-jiru/
Regarding Shirodashi, it contains various other ingredients besides Dashi, so it’s best to adjust the taste to your liking. You can learn more about Shirodashi at https://www.justonecookbook.com/shiro-dashi/.
We hope this information is helpful to you.🙂
Really good! I am very familiar with Japanese cooking but this was a new one on me. I made the trip to an Asian market for umeboshi but had everything else on hand. This will be something I make a lot now! Arigatou gozaimasu!!
Hi Chuck! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed the dish! Arigato~ 😊
Hello:
Just a suggestion, when ading dsahi make sure there is a formula for those of us using granulated dashi. Asian supermarket too far away to keep dashi available all the time in liquid form.
Tom Champion
Hi Tom! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and sending us your suggestion!
Yes, we always attached the link for those who need more help making Dashi. Would you please click the Dashi in the recipe card? It will redirect you to more options, including using Dashi powder.
We hope this helps!🙂
One of my local Japanese restaurants serves a side dish of whole (nor smashed) cucumber chunks served with a very light sesame tasting coasting. Any idea what that recipe might be? It is lighter than just sesame oil and very delicious. Thanks for the wonderful recipes.
Hi Roger! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post!
There are many ways to serve cucumber with a light sesame taste, and we are not sure what your local Japanese restaurant offers. But you can try these Nami’s cucumber recipes and make adjustments as you need?
https://www.justonecookbook.com/cucumber-and-chicken-marinated-in-chili-oil/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-pickled-cucumber/
We hope this is helpful.🙂