Welcome to part III of cucumber salads! Occasionally I get very ambitious and make the Korean dish bi bim bop. This little salad is a mix in or banchan for this dish. This salad, while delicious, it rather spicy and super garlicky. Just a few slices will do. If you do incorporate it into bi bim bop, the flavors will soften considerably.
This recipe comes from a favorite of mine, the cookbook Dok Suni, by Jenny Kwak and Liz Fried. I would check it out from the library for months at a time. I finally broke down and bought it.
Spicy Korean Cucumber Salad (Oye Moochim) (serves 4 or more)
- 1 cucumber, prepared as written here
- 1 1/2 Tbs red pepper flakes, or more
- 1 Tbs rice vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame salt
- 1 tsp very finely minced garlic
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- pinch brown sugar
- salt
1. Mix together the red pepper flakes, vinegar, sesame salt, garlic, sesame oil, and sugar so that it makes a paste. Combine with the cucumber, Mix thoroughly. Serve chilled. Keeps fresh for a week. Will actually keep longer, but won't taste as yummy.
Served with my rescued noodles
Kitchen Notes: I've seen sesame salt defined two ways: 1) a combination of pulverized sesame seeds and salt; 2) Pulverized toasted sesame seeds. Truthfully, this time around I didn't feel up to grinding the sesame seeds, so I omitted it. I've included a graphic of the red pepper flakes below. They are used a lot in Korean cooking. I keep mine refrigerated as they seem to get moldy very fast.
Verdict? Little goes a long way. Strong bite from the garlic. Strong heat from the red pepper. Refreshing cukes. Give it a try.
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