Sunomono (Wakame Seaweed and Cucumber Salad)

Sunomono is a Japanese dish with vinegar based dressing, su means vinegar in Japanese. There are three main vinegar dressings for sunomono, namely ama-zu (甘酢), nihai-zu (二杯酢) and sanbai-zu (三杯酢). As the names suggest, they have different ratio of vinegar in dressings. I made sunomono with nihai-zu dressing plus a Chinese twist. I like this wakame sunomono very much, tasting had turned into snacking quickly.

Store bought wakame sunomono usually made with fresh wakame, the colour will be bright green. There was once I had wakame sunomono at a restaurant, I was surprised it actually tinted my finger green when I touched it. What to say more?

This one was made with dried wakame, the one used for making soup. If using whole or big pieces of wakame, additional steps for boiling and chopping are required.

Ingredients (2-3 servings):
20 gm dried wakame (I used small pieces wakame commonly use for miso soup)
1 Japanese cucumber, sliced
Pinch of salt

Dressing:
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1-2 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
2 tsp roasted sesame seeds (optional)

Methods:

1. Soak dried wakame in lukewarm water for 10-15 minutes or until it is fully bloomed. Drain well, then use paper towel to extract moisture.
2. While soaking wakame, slice cucumber and mix well with pinch of salt. Then, set aside for about 10 minutes or so. Drain the liquid and use paper towel to extract moisture.
3. Combine wakame and cucumber in a bowl, add in all other ingredients and mix well. Alternately, dressing maybe prepared separately in advance. Some dashi maybe added to taste.