Cucumber tsukemono (Japanese pickled cucumbers)
- Published: 7 Jun 24
- Updated: 7 Aug 24
Kenji Morimoto shares his easy recipe for cucumber tsukemono. This crunchy cucumber pickle goes with everything, and makes a great intro to the addictive world of pickling.
Kenji says: “Cucumber tsukemono is sometimes referred to as pori pori – an onomatopoeic word in Japanese for ‘crunchy’. It’s a variety of shoyuzuke (a soy sauce-based pickle) and one of my favourites – so easy to make, full of flavour and it plays on the savoury-sweet combo I love. I’ve added some heat in the form of chilli, ginger and chilli bean paste, but it’s a good pickle to play around with, so feel free to experiment”
Kenji is a fourth generation Japanese American living in London. As a child he was in charge of the family pickle-making, while today he hosts supperclubs and leads fermentation and pickling workshops. Right now, he’s working on his first cookbook. Make his cabbage asazuke next.
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Makes enough to fill a 1 litre jar -
Hands-on time 15 min, plus at least 2 hours salting
Before you start
Sterilise your jar: wash the jar and lid well in soapy water, rinse, then boil in a large pan of water for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, then drain and use while still warm.
Nutrition
- Calories
- 3kcals
- Fat
- 0g
- Protein
- 0g
- Carbohydrates
- 0.5g (0.5g sugars)
- Fibre
- 0g
- Salt
- 0.1g
delicious. tips
Doubanjiang is a Chinese fermented chilli bean paste. You can find it in most large supermarkets these days (sold as chilli bean sauce and produced by Lee Kum Kee), as well as online or in Asian supermarkets.