Korean Cucumber Salad – 오이무침 (Oi Muchim)

Directions

• Before We Start

  Timing: There is the fast but not as good way of making this and the patient and way better way of making it. The timing reflects the fastest version, but it is just not near as good if you don’t completely follow Step 2.
  Sweetener Options: Using allulose makes this a healthier refined sugar free dish with no change in flavor. You can use 2 tbsp of sugar as an alternative as well.
  Where’s the plum sauce?! Many Korean recipes use plum sauce instead of sugar (or allulose), we didn’t us it here to reduce the amount of difficult to find ingredients in the recipe. If you want to try it this way, use 2 tbsp of plum sauce instead of the sugar or allulose.

• Prep the Cucumbers & Cabbage

  Sliced the cucumbers on the bias into 1/8in thick slices.
   
  Cut the cabbage in half from root to tip. Then quarter one of the halves. Using just one quarter of the cabbage, cut the first 1/4in of the top of the cabbage off and discard. This will give you a nice flat starting point for dicing.
  
  Then slice the cabbage into about four 1/4 in thick slices, trying to keep them in tact as best as you can. Then cut the slices into 1/4 in squares.
  

• Salt the Cucumbers & Cabbage

  To get the best results, in a medium sized bowl, toss the cucumbers, cabbage, and kosher salt together and set aside no the counter for at least 30 minutes. You can salt this for longer as well, 1-4 hrs.
   
  If you are in a hurry, you can skip the waiting time, but just know that the dressing will pull a lot of the moisture out of the cucumbers and cabbage giving you a diluted (watered down) flavor.

• Make the Dressing

  Using a microplane, grate 1/2 a clove of garlic. Then add to a small bowl along with the rice vinegar, allulose (or sugar / plum sauce), gochujang, and sesame oil.

• Toss and Chill

  Add the dressing to the salted cucumbers and cabbage. Toss well to coat everything. Let sit for 5 minutes to soak in the flavor, or refrigerate until ready to serve.
   
  Optionally, to finish you can top the salad with a 1/2 tsp of toasted sesame seeds and 1/8 tsp of gochugaru (Korean chili flakes).