Cucumber Wakame Salad
This cucumber wakame salad is my version of the Japanese sunomono salad without refined sugar. Wakame is a seaweed rich in vitamins, minerals and helps to balance hormones among many health benefits. Cucumber wakame salad is a refreshing summer salad to get more sea vegetables into our diet.
Servings 2 people
Calories 98kcal
Cost $3
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 medium english cucumber
- 4 tbsp dehydrated wakame seaweed
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 3 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/4 tsp naturally-brewed tamari soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp white sesame seeds
- 1 tsp black sesame seeds
Instructions
- Place 4 tbsp dried wakame seaweed in a bowl. Break the wakame into smaller bite size pieces if they are not pre-cut. Pour warm water to completely cover the wakame by at least a couple inches. Dried wakame soak up a lot of water. Check in a few minutes and add more water if necessary to ensure all the wakame are submerged. It takes about 15 minutes to rehydrate.
- In the meanwhile, slice 1 medium english cucumber into thin slices. You can use a knife, mandoline, or a spiralizer like I did in the video.
- Mix 1 tsp sea salt evenly with the sliced cucumbers. Let it rest in a bowl for about 10 minutes. The cucumber will release the excess juice through osmosis.
- Combine rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar, maple syrup (or equal amount of sugar if you don't have maple syrup), tamari soy sauce and sesame oil in a bowl to make the dressing.
- Squeeze out the excess cucumber juice, and strain away excess water from the rehydrated wakame. Discard the water used to rehydrate wakame, but you can save the salted cucumber juice for other use. See recipe notes.
- Place strained cucumber and wakame in a bowl, pour over the dressing, and garnish with black and white sesame seeds.
Video
Notes
Tip for not wasting the cucumber juice: I freeze the salted cucumber juice to add into the next batch of soup.
Nutrition
Calories: 98kcal