Cucumber Muchim
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My mom is Korean but she grew up in a white family so my siblings and I didn’t grow up eating traditional Korean cuisine. My dad (who is Irish) always encouraged my mom to explore her heritage, and as my siblings and I have gotten older we have begun to learn more about our Korean roots.
In the past few years, my mom, brother, and I have begun to look into cooking traditional Korean food at home. So I started looking for Korean cookbooks and I found one called Our Korean Kitchen by Jordan Bourke and Rejina Pyo that was written by an Irish chef and his Korean wife. When I found this book I thought that it was really special because although all the recipes are traditionally Korean, there was a blending of both my Korean and Irish heritage. This is the book that we draw a lot of inspiration from, although we make some modifications to make the recipes our own.
This cucumber dish is one of our family favorites. My brother is the one who usually makes this side dish when we are having a big Korean meal, so he helped me with our modified quantities.
We like to use both gochugaru and gochujang even though the original recipe only calls for gochugaru. Gochugaru is a red pepper powder that is both sweet and spicy. Different brands have different levels of spice but the one we use is fairly mild. On the other hand, gochujang is a fermented red chili paste. We use a hotter variety to add additional spice to our cucumber muchim but you can totally leave out the gochujang if you would like. Depending on the brand of gochugaru and gochujang you get you may have to make your own modifications to control the level of spice.
The level of spice may also depend on what you are using it for. Sometimes I will have a bowl of rice with cucumber kimchi for lunch and for that I like it a little spicier. Other times it is one of many side dishes, so we may make it a little milder.
This recipe is super fast and easy to put together although there is a bit of waiting time. In total it takes about 65 minutes but there is only 10 minutes of active work. If you are really in a rush you can cut the cucumbers really thin and reduce the amount of time it sits in the salt. You can also cut out the chilling time and eat it right after you combine the cucumbers with the rest of the ingredients. This recipe can be kept in the fridge for up to a week!
Cucumber Muchim
This is a family favorite Korean side dish that’s spicy, tangy, and easy to make!
Serves: 5 (as a side dish) Total Time: 60 minutes (10 minutes active)
Ingredients
1 whole English cucumber (around 315 grams)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon gochugaru
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
2 teaspoons gochujang
1 clove crushed garlic
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
2 green onions
Method
Slice the cucumber into rounds about 1/8th inch thick.
Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the cucumbers and rub the salt in for about 30 seconds.
Allow the cucumbers to sit for 30 minutes.
In the meantime combine 1 tablespoon gochugaru, 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon sesame seed oil, 2 teaspoons gochujang and 1 clove of crushed garlic.
Drain the cucumbers
Combine the seasoning paste and cucumbers and refrigerate.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onion to serve!
Notes
If you’re looking to cut down on time slice the cucumbers thinner and let them sit in the salt for 10 minutes. You can also skip the chilling step to cut out an additional 20 minutes.
You can use the seasoning paste as a spicy salad dressing!
