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–+ servings

Wasabi Cucumber Pickles

Prep Time10 minutes
Pickling time12 hours
Total Time12 hours 10 minutes
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 6 portions

Ingredients 
 

  • 500 g Japanese cucumber or Persian cucumber (if using English cucumber, cut in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds first)
  • 50 g sugar
  • 15 g salt
  • 1½ tbsp wasabi paste

Instructions 

  • Wash 500 g Japanese cucumber and cut off the ends.
    5 Japanese cucumbers with the ends cut off next to a knife on a black chopping board
  • Cut the cucumber into rough bite-size chunks 1 to 2 cm (½ to ¾ inch) thick, with some skin on every piece.
    Japanese cucumber cut into rough chunks to make pickles
  • Place into a large zip lock bag and add 50 g sugar, 15 g salt and 1½ tbsp wasabi paste.
    Roughly chopped Japanese cucumbers in a ziplock bag with salt, sugar and wasabi paste.
  • Rub the ingredients all over the cucumber, try and make sure all of the pieces are covered. You can do this from the outside of the zip lock bag, there's no need to get your hands dirty.
    Massaging seasonings onto wasabi pickled cucumber in a ziplock bag
  • Once evenly coated, seal the bag and leave in the fridge for 12 hours. I recommend placing the bag in a container to prevent leaks.
    Wasabi pickled cucumber in a ziplock bag placed over a container
  • Use clean chopsticks or tongs to remove the pieces from the brine. Serve and enjoy!
    Wasabi pickled cucumber after 12 hours in a Japanese serving dish.

Notes

Store in a sealed container in the fridge and consume within 2-3 days. These are quick pickles that require refrigeration and spoil a lot faster than fermented pickles.
Keep the full sugar the first time: Along with the salt, the sugar is what draws the water out of the cucumber. Use less and the pickle stays watery and tastes of raw wasabi heat. Adjust the sweetness on your second batch.
Weigh the salt: Measure precisely on a scale, avoid rough spoonfuls. The same spoonful of kosher salt can weigh nearly twice as much from one brand to another, and that difference shows up directly in how salty the pickle tastes.
Dry it before it goes in the bag: Water left on the skin waters down the sugar, salt and wasabi in the bag.
Keep the skin on and cut thick: The skin and a 1 to 2 cm thickness are what hold on to the green color and the crunch after pickling. Thin slices go limp as the water leaves.
Turn the bag once partway through: A bag that never moves keeps its liquid at the bottom, and the upper pieces come out underseasoned. Next time the fridge is open, flip it over and massage it briefly.
A green liquid is no sign of spoilage: It is only the color of the wasabi moving into the liquid. Drain it off and the flavor stays in the cucumber.