I tried this chilled cucumber salad at a Japanese pop-up kitchen the other day, and was intrigued both by the texture and the depth of flavour.
Turns out giving the cucumbers a few whacks with a rolling pin before dressing them is the secret.
Those small, hard “snack-size” cucumbers work best, though I imagine the thin, curly Lebanese ones would be good too.
I’ve kept the dressing simple – just soy sauce, sesame oil and a little splash of rice vinegar (or yuzu citrus seasoning) for brightness.
Tataki kyuri (smashed cucumber salad)
- 3 small cucumbers
- 1 Tb Japanese soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp rice vinegar (or yuzu citrus seasoning)
- toasted sesame seeds, to garnish
- Wash and dry the cucumbers, and trim off the ends. Place them in a small ziplock bag and seal well.
- Bash the cucumbers several times with the end of a rolling pin. Break any large chunks into bite-size pieces.
- Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar to the bag, reseal, and give the cucumbers a little massage.
- Chill for one hour, drain, garnish with sesame seeds and serve.
Ten More Bites 
I do love reading your recipes and long for the availability of some of your products – I took so many things for granted living in London greek and turkish supermarkets or any other kind except “local produce”!! “small cucumbers” don’t exist here!! Unless I do a 50 mile round trip to Waitrose!! However still love living here!!
Hope you are all well love Jenny x
Thanks, Jenny! A definite perk of living in London for sure. All the best to everyone x
What a fascinatingly simple recipe. Look forward to trying it with my garden cukes this summer
One of those recipes, where something small (the bashing) makes a surprising difference to the end result