Sunomono Japanese Vinegared Dishes

Ingredients

• For the sanbaizu
• 3 tbsp rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp mirin
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 kyuri cucumber, thinly sliced into rounds
• 1 tsp fine sea salt, for oshidashi pre-salting
• 20 g dried wakame seaweed, rehydrated, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 150 g surimi or cooked ebi (shrimp), chilled
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds, added cold at service only

Method

1. 1
   Combine the rice vinegar, mirin, and soy sauce in a small bowl to form the sanbaizu. Stir until the mirin is fully incorporated. The dressing should read primarily sour on the palate, with sweetness and savour in support — taste and confirm this balance before proceeding.
2. 2
   Toss the sliced cucumber with fine sea salt and set aside for a minimum of ten minutes — this is oshidashi. After ten minutes, squeeze the slices firmly in the hand: a visible flow of water must be expelled. Dry the slices on a cloth. The cucumber should feel limp but not broken, releasing no further liquid when pressed again.
3. 3
   This is where the dish lives or dies: dress the cucumber, wakame, and surimi with the sanbaizu only at the moment of service. Pre-dressed sunomono weeps, the vinegar goes flat, and the dressing is diluted beyond recovery. The dressed ingredients must glisten with a thin, even coat of dressing and hold their form — no liquid pooling at the base of the vessel.
4. 4
   Divide immediately into four small, elegant serving vessels. Scatter cold toasted sesame seeds over each portion at the last moment — heat destroys their fresh fragrance. The seeds should be audibly dry and crisp between the fingers before they leave the hand.