Husband’s Cucumber and Wakame Salad

Ingredients:

180 g cucumber, cut in 2 cm x 2 cm x 3 cm pieces

1/4 tsp. salt

25 g dried wakame seaweed

1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar (do not used “sushi vinegar”)

1 tsp. mirin (sweet cooking sake)

2 tsp. sesame oil

furikake, shichimi, and toasted black sesame seeds to taste

 

Preparation Instructions:

Salt the cut cucumber pieces with 1/4 tsp. salt, mix, and let sit for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cover the dried wakame with water (no warmer than room temperature) to let it rehydrate. After 10 minutes, put the salted cucumber in a kitchen towel (or at least three paper towels) and squeeze very hard to release all of the water. The cucumbers should shrivel and turn glassy/translucent. Put the cucumbers in the serving bowl. Take the rehydrated wakame out of the water and gently rake dry with your hands over the sink (or drain it through a collander). Add the wakame to the cucumber. Add the rice wine vinegar, mirin, and sessame oil. Mix. Top with Furikake, schichimi, and toasted black sessame seeds to taste.