My girlfriends had put together a recipe scrapbook for me as a wedding gift, and my mom’s contribution was this Korean cucumber side dish recipe. This was probably one of the first recipes I learned as a newlywed and is still one of my go-to’s.
I seriously can just eat this with rice most days. Or I even add in gochujang and sesame oil and make a cheat version of bibimbap.
I remember during the first few months of marriage, I felt this overwhelming amount of pressure to be a cookie-cutter wife. Through observing other successfully married couples, a part of me wanted to follow in their footsteps.
It took me a while to realize that just because I didn’t know how to cook, clean, or do any of the traditional housewife duties, it didn’t make me the world’s worst wife (maybe just the bottom 5%). Luckily, we found our own dynamic that works for us. I usually like to be adventurous and try new recipes, while Jacob does the day to day cooking.
If you’re like me and find cooking to be daunting, this is a great, simple cucumber dish to ease you in. Oh, you should probably like Korean food too! If you haven’t tried Korean food yet, what’s stopping you? 🙂
Korean Cucumber Side Dish (오이무침)
Print
Ingredients
1 Cucumber, thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon korean red pepper flakes
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons powdered honey / sugar
2 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1 Tablespoon vinegar (optional)
1 teaspoon fish sauce (optional)
Salt (to taste)
Directions
- Mix all the ingredients except cucumber to make the seasoning.
- Thinly slice cucumbers.
- Mix the cucumbers into the seasoning.
Mom’s Notes
- The vinegar adds a slightly sour/pickled taste to the seasoned cucumbers.
- Fish sauce adds extra flavor but isn’t necessary.
- You can add salt to the cucumber slices, draw out and remove the water first, if you want the cucumbers to stay crunchier.
- I used to just use my knife, but now that I have a . It makes slicing so much easier, and I get perfect slices every time.
Did you try this Korean cucumber side dish recipe? What did you think? What’s the first recipe you learned to make? What’s the first recipe you learned as a newlywed?
If you want to try another easy recipe, my mom’s Korean perilla leaves recipe is similar.
