Korean Cucumber Nameul Banchan (오이나물) Mini Lesson

Cucumbers are cool, refreshing and oh so good on hot summer days. Koreans have their own style of making them. Generally, Korean "oh-ee" banchan (오이나물) or side dish comes in two forms -a sugar and vinegar based one and one that is cooked. It will sound strange to people who have never had cooked cucumbers, but the Korean side dish is nothing that you would expect. The cooking actually enhances the cucumber flavor and gives it an extra crunch that you wouldn't normally have. I actually prefer the cooked version on most occasions as it CAN be stored for a few days while the vinegar-based version cannot. It is simple and straightforward and the primary technique that turns the dish from ordinary to excellent is actually good knife skills.


Korean Cucumber Side Dish (오이나물)
Ingredients
4 Japanese cucumbers, 6-8 Persian "mini" cucumbers, or 4-5 pickling cucumbers (these varieties have fewer seeds - do NOT substitute anything else.)
1 or 2 tablespoons of salt
3-4 cloves of garlic finely minced (use more if you like the garlic flavor)
3-4 tablespoons sesame oil
Crushed sesame seeds

The MOST difficult part of this side dish is actually slicing the cucumbers. You want to slice straight circles, perpendicular to the cucumber length and make the slices about 1/8 in thick. The difficulty is getting them to ALL be the same thickness - and without really good knife skills this can be difficult. If you intend to do a lot of even cutting or slicing in the future, it wouldn't be a horrible idea to invest in a Japanese mandolin/benriner.


After cutting, liberally salt the cucumbers, making sure that all the cucumbers get a bit of salt. This is to draw water OUT of the cucumbers, and by doing this, you are actually increasing the "crunch factor" of the dish. You are able to salt the cucumbers and leave them this way in a fridge for ate least 30 minutes and up to two days. This is a make ahead step that you can use to your advantage. Slice, cut and salt, and then store in the fridge.

When you are ready, take small handfuls of the cucumbers and squeeze the excess water out. (this is like our Spinach Nameul) Do this until you have squeeze the water out of the entire mound of cucumbers. It should look something like this:

Heat the frying pan. Add sesame oil. Toss in cucumbers and garlic and saute, quickly for about 1-2 minutes.

Finish with toasted sesame seeds.
Serve and enjoy!