A typical Japanese meal consists of one main dish of meat or seafood with rice and miso soup, complemented by several side dishes. Today’s recipe is a sweet and tangy Japanese Cucumber Salad with Crab (きゅうりとワカメと蟹の酢の物) that goes well with any dinner meal. This easy salad happens to be one of the side dishes that I prepare regularly.
What is Cucumber Salad?
This Japanese cucumber salad is a type of sunomono (酢の物), or vinegar-based dish. When we mention sunomono, it typically refers to cucumber salad. It’s a common Japanese side dish to the main dish as the refreshing sour flavor helps whet the appetite. Classic sunomono salad includes sliced cucumber and wakame seaweed dressed in rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar. Sometimes, boiled octopus slices, boiled baby anchovies (shirasu), or even thin slivers or carrot are added. My version includes crab to add a beautiful bright color and a bit of protein. Serve this Japanese Cucumber Salad as a refreshing accompaniment to chicken teriyaki, garlic saikoro steak, honey pork belly, sushi, or miso cod.
Health Benefits of Cucumber Salad
We tend to overlook the health benefits of cucumbers, but they are actually high in fiber, light on calories, and great for digestion. Vinegar is also thought to help control blood sugar levels. You can see the full nutritional information at the end of the recipe card. For these reasons, you can often find cucumber served as a part of salads in Japanese meals. Growing up, my mom served different kinds of side dishes including a sunomono dish during mealtime.
Ingredients You’ll Need
For today’s cucumber kani salad recipe, I added imitation crab meat for a pop of color, but it’s completely optional. You can still enjoy it as a vegetarian dish without the crab sticks.
Japanese or Persian cucumbers – you can also use English cucumber with the seeds removed Diamond Crystal kosher salt dried wakame seaweed real crab meat or imitation crab meat (kani kama) – I used imitation crab sticks since I‘m allergic to crab; skip for vegan/vegetarian toasted white sesame seeds – optional
For the Dressing
rice vinegar (unseasoned) sugar – for a touch of sweetness soy sauce Diamond Crystal kosher salt dashi (Japanese soup stock) – use standard Awase Dashi, dashi packet or powder, or Vegan Dashi
Variations and Substitutions
Experiment with the garnishes. Try ikura (salmon roe), tobiko (flying fish roe/eggs), or salmon flakes. Sprinkle black sesame seeds instead of the white variety. Vary the dressing with a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil or lemon juice. For a spicy kick, sprinkle shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) or even drizzle sriracha sauce.
How To Make Japanese Cucumber Salad with Crab
With a prep time of 10 minutes for the vegetables and crab, you can easily whip together this side dish in a total time of just 15 minutes.
4 Tips To Make Japanese Cucumber Salad
Other Recipes You’ll Love
Japanese Kani Salad (Japanese Crab Salad) Octopus Salad Sunomono Salad Cucumber and Chicken Marinated in Chili Oil Lobster Roll with Spicy Mayonnaise Dressing Japanese Potato Salad
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