Thinly sliced cucumbers are tossed with rice wine vinegar, mirin and chili flakes. This Asian-inspired dish is delicious as a light salad or garnish.
To make the salad, mix together the rice wine vinegar, mirin, sugar, salt and chili flakes.
Note: For this recipe you can use regular English, Japanese or Persian cucumbers. We do not recommend using regular field cucumbers, because they often have bigger seeds and a higher water content.
Thinly slice the cucumbers and add the cucumbers to the dressing. Toss, cover and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour, or even overnight. This will give the cucumbers time to absorb the flavors.
Strain the cucumbers and serve as light salad or garnish.
If desired, toasted sesame seeds and a touch of toasted sesame oil can be added as well.
Using a mandolin to slice the cucumbers is not essential but it does make for a nice uniformly thin slice.
This is actually better the next day, so feel free to make this the day before. Also, if you want it more spicy, heat the dressing up, this will bring out the heat from the chiles. Just allow the dressing to cool completely before adding the cucumbers.