Pickled Cucumbers and Shiitake Mushrooms
Pickled Cucumbers and Shiitake Mushrooms is not a traditional Japanese pickled cucumber recipe. It has a complex flavour of salty, sweet, sour, nutty, and spicy – a perfect izakaya (Japanese-style tavern) dish.It is assumed that pickling time is 1 day.Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 5 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 300g / 0.7lb cucumbers ((note 1))
- 100g / 3.5oz shiitake mushrooms ((fresh, not dried))
- 10g / 0.4oz rehydrated wood ear fungus ((also called black/cloud ear fungus, note 2))
- 10g / 0.4oz ginger (, very finely julienned to 2cm / ¾” long strips)
- 7g / 0.2oz red chili (, finely julienned to about 3cm / 1⅛" long strips)
- 1 tbsp shiro dashi ((note 3))
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1⅓ tbsp white sesame oil ((note 4))
- 1⅓ tbsp dark sesame oil ((note 4))
Instructions
- 1
Add shiro dashi, rice vinegar, and sugar to a jar and mix well until the sugar is dissolved.
- 2
Add the remaining Pickling Liquid ingredients to the jar and mix well.
- 3
Trim the end of the stem and slice into 3mm / ⅛" thick pieces.
- 4
Put the mushroom slices in a small saucepan, add 4 tablespoons of water (not in ingredients list), then bring it to a boil.
- 5
Reduce the heat to minimum and cook for 30-45 seconds with a lid on. Bubbles will come up. If the bubbles overflow, shift the lid to let the bubbles subside. There should be a small amount of liquid left. Transfer the mushrooms, including the liquid, to a bowl and let them cool (note 5).
- 6
Cut the cucumbers into 5cm / 2" long logs, then quarter each log vertically (note 6) to make triangular prism-shape pieces. Trim off the tip lengthwise where the seeds are (centre of the cucumber) since the centre of the cucumber contains a lot of water (see the photo in post).
- 7
Wood ear fungus: Slice the wood ear fungus pieces into 2mm / 3⁄32" wide strips.
- 8
Put all the prepared vegetables (including the residual liquid from the boiled mushrooms), chillies, and ginger in a zip lock bag.
- 9
Massage the bag or use a spoon to mix the vegetables in the bag.
- 10
Add the pickling liquid to the bag. Remove air as much as possible and seal the bag.
- 11
Keep the bag in the fridge for 1-2 days.
- 12
Serve as a side dish or nibbles for drinks.