Spicy Cucumber Salad Easy Korean Side Dish

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Spicy Cucumber Salad (Oi Muchim 오이무침) Easy Korean Side Dish

Here is one of the best and easiest Banchan (side dish) that pair perfectly with Korean BBQ. Spicy Cucumber Salad compliments any meal because of its spicy, savory, tangy, slightly sweet and refreshing crunchy texture.

In 15 minutes you can have Spicy Korean Cucumber Salad ready-to-eat! It is so easy and flavorful, I am sure you will have it in your a regular Banchan rotation.

Korean Lesson: “oi-muchim”. Translation: is “oi” is cucumber, “muchim” is mixed with seasoning. There are a lot of variations of oi-muchim, you will find everyone makes it a little different, and we have tried so many. We wanted to make it as simple as possible without missing out on flavor and texture.

Ingredients

Types of Cucumbers

It is important to note the type of cucumbers available to you. The variety of cucumber will impact the texture and flavor, for example if you use North American Garden cucumbers, you may end up with a soggy, tough skin and bitter tasting oi-muchim. The variations to consider is flavor, toughness in skin and size of seeds. Ideally, you want a mild to sweet flavor cucumber with very thin skin and tiny seeds. I have used several types of cucumbers for oi-muchim simply because it was the only type I had available or it was left over from another recipe that I did not want to go to waste. These are my findings to save you the trouble of trial and error. Any of the following work great for Oi-Muchim.

The traditional cucumbers for oi-muchim are Kirby Cucumbers (aka pickling cucumbers). Asian grocery stores will almost always have Kirby cucumbers and sometimes American grocery chains have them as well. The Kirby variety are short, greenish yellow and bumpy, think about how whole pickles look. If you do not have an Asian Market near you, American grocery chains typically carry English Cucumbers. They are great because they also have tiny seeds, relatively thin skins and mild in taste. The cucumbers used in this recipe is Persian Cucumbers. I came across these in our local Asian market and decided to try them one day because they looked so fresh compared to the Kirby variety they had. And I am hooked, they were crunchy, sweet, have tiny seeds and thin skins. It is my new favorite cucumber for Oi-Muchim.

Now you have 3 varieties to choose from, but do not despair if you only have access to North American Garden variety, try this hack. Peel the skin to remove toughness and bitterness, and remove the seeds. It may come out soggy because it is a watery variety, but you will still get a tasty spicy cucumber salad.

• 5 Persian cucumbers (pictured above), or 1 English cucumber, or 2 to 3 Kirby cucumbers. Wash and ends and blemishes removed.
• ¼ small onion. Thinly sliced
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon Gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes)
• ½ -1 teaspoon salt  
• 1 teaspoon seasoned rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
• ¾ teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions

1. Thinly slice cucumbers. (If using North American Garden Cucumbers, peel the skin first and remove seeds).
2. In a bowl combine thinly cucumbers with salt. Gently mix and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes.
3. Drain liquid from the cucumbers.

4. Add remaining ingredients: onions, garlic, green onions, sugar, seasoned rice vinegar, sesame oil, Gochugaru, and toasted sesame seeds into the bowl. Mix and Serve.