Make Your Pickled Cucumbers Even Better With One Umami Addition

In the United States, people love chopping up pickles and putting them into sandwiches, cooking with the brine, or eating them straight out of the jar (you do you). You can even grill pickles for a tasty summertime side or place pickles of all shapes and sizes on a broiled salmon burger. The absorbent nature of cucumbers makes them an ideal vegetable to brine, and there's one umami ingredient you can add to take your pickles to the next level: soy sauce. 

In Japan, kyurizuke, or "pickled cucumbers," are a common side dish. You'll often see them in soy sauce with sesame seeds, served in their own bowl or alongside the main dinner course with rice and meat. They usually don't brine for as long as their American equivalent, so if you're making kyurizuke at home, you won't have to wait as long to chow down on this delicious vegetable snack.

Combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and water to make a tangy pickle brine for your cucumbers. It's as simple as mixing these ingredients and pouring them together in a jar. Stick it in the refrigerator and watch the magic happen after a couple of days as the pickles absorb their delicious soy sauce counterpart.

Soy sauce, like kyurizuke, is a fermented product — which means it was initially created with the intention of preserving food. The umami characteristic of soy sauce adds depth to savory foods, and you're doubling this note by pairing it with pickled cucumbers. The natural sweetness of soy sauce and cucumbers also pair well together and can prevent the other notes from becoming too overwhelming. You can use soy sauce as part of the cucumber pickling brine or pour it over the kyurizuke itself.

To get the full experience of this dish, consider pairing it with donburi. You can spoon the soy sauce from your kyurizuke over some of the meat and rice to add umami flavor for a more harmonious dinner, although you can easily keep the whole experience vegetarian by replacing meat with other foods like fried tofu or shiitake mushrooms. When it comes to plating, you can spiral pickled cucumbers without any fancy tools instead of slicing them to create more visual appeal. There's nothing better than food that tastes as good as it looks. Kyurizuke and soy sauce is a simple recipe you can enjoy any time, whether it's a part of your dinner course or a quick afternoon snack.