Oi Muchim (Korean Spicy Cucumber Salad)
A quick Korean banchan: cucumber tossed with gochugaru, garlic, soy, sesame oil and a touch of vinegar. Bright red, sharp, garlicky and crunchy.
Overview
Persian / Korean / English cucumbers slice into thick half-moons or julienne. Salt rests for 10 minutes; squeeze briefly. Dressing: gochugaru, soy sauce, garlic, rice vinegar, sesame oil, a touch of sugar, whisk together. Cucumber tosses with the dressing; rests for 10 minutes; sprinkles with sesame seeds and spring onion. Eats cool.
Ingredients
- 2 long cucumbers (about 400 g; Korean, Persian or English)
- 1 teaspoon salt (for the draw)
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons gochugaru (Korean coarse chilli flakes)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon caster sugar
- 4 garlic cloves (very finely minced)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 spring onion (sliced thin)
Topping
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Method
Stage 1 - Prep cucumbers
- Halve cucumbers lengthways; if seedy, scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon.
- Slice into half-moons 5 mm thick (or julienne 5 mm × 5 mm × 5 cm if you prefer the matchstick look).
Stage 2 - Salt and drain
- Toss with 1 teaspoon salt in a colander.
- Rest 10 minutes; squeeze gently to release water.
- The cucumber should be flexible but still crunchy.
Stage 3 - Dressing
- In a small bowl, combine the gochugaru, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, minced garlic and sesame oil.
- Whisk until the gochugaru hydrates and the dressing turns into a bright red paste.
Stage 4 - Toss
- Tip the drained cucumber into a wide bowl.
- Pour the dressing over; toss with hands (wear gloves - gochugaru stains).
- Add the sliced spring onion.
- Rest 10 minutes (the flavours meld; the cucumber takes on the red colour).
Stage 5 - Serve
- Tip into a small banchan dish.
- Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top.
- Serve cool.
Notes
- Korean cucumbers if you can find them: thin-skinned, ridged, almost no seeds, crisp. Failing that, Persian or thin-skinned English work. Avoid waxy supermarket cucumbers.
- Salt and squeeze: unsalted cucumbers weep into the dressing within minutes. The squeeze is essential.
- Gochugaru is the colour: generic chilli flakes give a brown-orange ugly result. Korean coarse red pepper flakes give the proper vivid red.
- Eat within hours: oi muchim weeps. Best within 4 hours of dressing.
Storage
- Keeps 24 hours refrigerated but the texture deteriorates.
- Best as a make-ahead-by-an-hour banchan, not as a meal-prep recipe.
More like this
Kongnamul Muchim (Soybean Sprout Side Dish)
Soybean sprouts blanch in salted water 5-6 minutes (longer than mung sprouts because of the harder bean head). Drain immediately and rinse cold to stop cooking and preserve snap. Dressing: 2 minced garlic cloves, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, sesame seeds, spring onion. Toss; chill for 15 minutes; serve cool. Some versions get a pinch of gochugaru for the spicy variant.
Smashed Cucumber
Cucumbers are placed on a cutting board, the flat of a cleaver (or a heavy rolling pin, or a small frying pan) struck firmly on the surface until the cucumber cracks lengthwise. Hands tear the cracked cucumber into rough 3-4 cm chunks. The pieces salt-rest in a colander 20-30 minutes to release water (this makes the dressing cling instead of dilute). A dressing of light soy, black vinegar (Chinkiang), sugar, sesame oil, crushed garlic and a spoon of chilli oil whisks together. The drained cucumber tosses in the dressing; rests for 30 minutes; eats cold.
Red Beans and Rice
The Monday dinner of New Orleans, the dish traditionally cooked on washing day because it could simmer unattended on the back of the stove while the laundry got done. You soften the Cajun trinity of onion, celery and bell pepper in oil, then bloom smoked paprika and Cajun seasoning in the heat. Soaked red kidney beans go in with stock, bay and a generous handful of thyme, and the pot simmers slowly until the beans are tender. In the last thirty minutes, you partially mash some of the beans against the side of the pot. That mash is what thickens the broth into a gravy and gives the dish its defining velvet texture. A splash of vinegar and a hit of hot sauce at the finish. Ladled over white rice with a smoky andouille link on the side, the way Louis Armstrong used to sign his letters: "Red beans and ricely yours".
Garlic Bok Choy
Small heads of bok choy are halved or quartered lengthwise (keeping each piece together at the base). Sliced garlic fries gently in oil until golden, not brown. The bok choy is blanched briefly (30 seconds) in heavily salted water (the salt fixes the colour); refreshed in cold water; drained well. The blanched bok choy then stir-fries in the garlic oil for 2 minutes; oyster sauce, a pinch of sugar and a splash of stock or water glaze; sesame oil at the end. Plated with the dressing spooned over.