Cucumber and Wakame Salad

On a chilly, grey day, what could be more comforting than a hot bowl of soup?

That was the thought that crossed my mind when I was thinking about what to make for lunch. I decided to make some miso soup.

I had mushrooms and tofu on hand that I wanted to use, but I felt that the soup needed something more. I dug around my pantry and came across an unopened bag of wakame. Perfect! 

I never used wakame before. So I had no idea that just soaking a small pinch would produce a big bowlful.  If I decided to go with my original plan – put all the wakame into the soup – then the soup would be saturated with seaweed, and that’s not good. So I came up with a Plan B: make another dish with wakame.

I immediately thought of the popular appetizer in many Japanese restaurants – seaweed salad. I really enjoyed those, but I always felt that restaurants charge too much for such a tiny portion.  So now that I have extra wakame ready to go, I thought it was finally time to trying my own.

I went onto Google and found Sweet Artichoke’s Cucumber and Wakame Salad recipe. It caught my eye because it looked simple and elegant. Plus, it had a short ingredient list, which is a good indication that I wouldn’t need to do a more lot mise en place before I could put together the salad and finally sit down and enjoy my lunch. 

The salad turned out delicious. I quite enjoyed the textural difference between the crunchy cucumber and the slippery wakame. The dressing was a tad bit acidic for my taste, so I tweeted it slightly by adding in more soy sauce and a touch more sugar. To finish off, I drizzled on sesame oil to bring the whole dish together.

Overall, it was a very refreshing salad, a great match  for my warm and hearty bowl of miso soup. Highly recommend it.

Cucumber and Wakame Salad

Adapted from Sweet Artichoke’s Cucumber and Wakame Salad.

Serves 1.

Ingredients:

• 2 small cucumber, peeled and julienned
• 1 tablespoon dried wakame, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon powdered sugar (you can substitute with regular sugar or even use mirin)
• salt and pepper
• sesame seeds, for garnish

Directions:

• Toss cucumber with 1 teaspoon salt. Let it sit for 30 minutes. Rinse thoroughly and pat dry.
• Drain wakame’s soaking water. Let it sit and get rid of as much as water possible by squeezing it with clean hands.
• In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and sugar. Stir well, make sure the sugar dissolves. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Before serving, toss the cucumber and wakame together with the dressing. Sprinkle on sesame seeds and serve immediately. The longer it sits, the more water the salad will release.