Easy Korean Cucumber Salad (Oi Muchim)
This easy Korean cucumber salad (oi muchim) is great as a side dish (banchan) for hot summer days when you want something quick, sweet, tangy, and refreshing.
Servings: 2
Calories: 58kcal
Ingredients
- 1 English cucumber (or 4-5 mini cucumbers)
- 2 stalks green onions (finely sliced)
- 1½ tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
Korean Cucumber Salad Dressing
- 1 tablespoon gochugaru (Korean red chili pepper flakes)
- 1 clove garlic (grated or finely minced)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2-3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Instructions
Preparation
- Cut both tips off the ends of the cucumbers and discard them. [English Cucumbers] Cut the cucumber in half length-wise and slice the cucumbers into ⅛-inch slices. They should look like thin half-moons.[Mini Cucumbers] Slice the cucumbers into ⅛-inch slices. They should look like round circles.
- Grate or finely mince 1 clove garlic and set it aside.
- Finely slice the green onions (including the whites, but discard the tips with the roots) and set them aside.
- Toast the sesame seeds until they are golden brown (unless you bought them pre-toasted) and set them aside to cool.
Make the Korean Cucumber Dressing
- In a small bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon gochugaru (Korean red chili pepper flakes), 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2-3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, and the minced garlic.
Mix Everything Together
- In a large mixing bowl, toss together the cucumber, green onions, toasted sesame seeds, and the dressing until every cucumber slice is coated with the sauce.
- Serve immediately, or let it sit and marinate for 5-10 minutes before digging in!
- Enjoy!
Notes
- If you use cucumbers with a lot of seeds like garden or field cucumbers (the dark green cucumbers with thick skin), remove the seeds by scraping them out with a spoon before using them to prevent them from being waterlogged.
- If you find your cucumber skins are very tough, you can also peel it the skins off but any low-seed cucumbers will have a nicer crunch to them if you keep the skins on.
- Once the dressing draws out the water from the cucumbers, the extra sauce is delicious on plain white rice.
- You will need to remove the seeds from the cucumber which has extra water in it.
- sprinkle salt on the cut cucumbers for 15 minutes to draw out more of the water from the cucumber. rinse off the salt and dry the cucumbers with a tea towel.
- Premake the dressing (add the green onions and sesame seeds in with the dressing)
- When you are ready to make it or bring it to an event, mix in the dressing and store it in a well-sealed container. With the excess moisture removed from the cucumber, it will last for the day. It may still contain some excess water, but we removed as much as we could.
