A cucumber salad with spring onion, red onion, red chilli, herbs and a sesame dressing.
This salad is the perfect accompaniment to any Korean dish, especially for people like me that love Korean food but don’t like kimchi. Adding some tofu, grilled chicken or prawns can transform this side dish into a great starter.
The salad is made from cucumber which is deseeded, peeled and cut into crescents. The cucumber is then dried on absorbent paper to remove any excess water and so it takes up the flavour from the dressing. Sliced red onion, red chilli, spring onions along with a mixture of mint and coriander make up the salad.
The dressing makes the salad come alive – it is made from dark soy, honey, vinegar, sesame seed, sesame oil and the magic ingredient gochujang.
Serves two as a side dish or starter
Preparation time 10 minutes
Ingredients
For the salad:
15cm length of Cucumber – deseed, peel, cut into crescents
1 red bird eye chilli – thinly slice
4 spring onions – thinly sliced
1 red onion – slice into thin strips
Handful of fresh coriander leaf – roughly chopped
Handful of fresh mint leaf – bruise, thinly slice
Method: Dry the cucumber crescents on absorbent paper for a few minutes. Add the salad to a bowl and mix well with your hands. Set aside.
For the dressing:
1 dessert spoon Gochujang chilli paste
1 dessert spoon Dark soy sauce
1 dessert spoon clear honey
3 teaspoons vinegar
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Method: Mix the dressing well in a bowl until combined. Set aside at room temperature until ready to serve. When serving drizzle over the salad then mix well with a spoon or your hands. serve and enjoy!
This salad works well with my recipes below:
Korean King Prawn Chilli noodles
Korean crispy Sesame chicken with fried chilli noodles
Ferret chef 
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