Yesterday, my husband and I went to a farmer’s market. They always have very fresh fruits and vegetables. I love to go there. Anyway, I found these fresh cucumbers for pickling, and decided to make Korean cucumber kimchi. The price for one cucumber was 25 cents. When I told them I wanted 20 cucumbers, they only charged me $2 for all of them. @.@ Big~~~ discount! In this case, we say “ASSA!” in Korean. hehe … I already got a request for this dish from some people, so I hope people will like this recipe.
Yield: 2 Dozen Servings
Short Korean Lesson: *^^*
- JaDu (자두) = Plum
- BokSungA (복숭아) = Peach
Video Instructions
Main Ingredients
- 24 Cucumbers for Pickling (About 3 Inches in length)
- 1 Cup Coarse Sea Salt
- 10 Cups Water
- 2 Cups Garlic Chives
- 1 Cup Green Onions
Sauce Ingredients
- 1 Cup Red Pepper Powder
- 6 Tbsp Fish Sauce (or a little Salt)
- 6 Tbsp Water
- 2 Tbsp Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Minced Garlic
- 2 tsp Minced Ginger
Directions
Clean the cucumbers. Normally, we use special cucumbers for cucumber kimchi called “summer cucumbers.” They have a light color and they are thin. I could not find them around here, but these pickling cucumbers worked good.
We are going to stuff the cucumbers. Cut off both ends of the cucumber. Then cut an x in the cucumbers, lengthwise, all the way down to about half an inch from the bottom.
Boil 10 cups of water with 1 cup of coarse sea salt.
Pour the boiling salt water on the cucumbers. Set it aside for about 50 minutes. This step is important because helps the cucumbers stay crunchy after the kimchi has been made.
After 50 minutes, rinse the cucumbers in cold water once. Drain the water.
Next, we will make the filling. Chop 2 cups of garlic chives into ¼-inch pieces. If your garlic chives and green onions are thin and soft, you can cut them longer than that.
Chop 1 cup of green onions into ¼-inch pieces. For better color, you can add some chopped carrots also.
In a bowl, add 1 cup of red pepper powder, 6 Tbsp of fish sauce (or some salt if you are a vegetarian), 6 Tbsp of water, 2 Tbsp of sugar, 2 Tbsp of minced garlic, and 2 tsp of minced ginger. Mix all of the ingredients together.
Add the garlic chives and green onions to the sauce.
Mix well.
To fill the cucumbers with the sauce, open the cucumber gently.
Put some of the sauce mixture in it.
Rub the surface of the cucumber with the sauce.
Put your cucumber kimchi in a container. I prefer to use glass containers to keep my kimchi. Set them outside (room temperature) overnight, and then put them in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!
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Hi Aeri. Wow! It looks delicious. I have a question: Do we have to cover the container when at the end?
P.S.: I love watching your videos
hi Benjamin,
hehe.. thanks
Yes, cover the lid..but not too tight.. a little lose. but when you put it in the refrigerator.. close the lid tight so your refrigerator will not be full of kimchi smell.
Hi Aeri. When we have to keep the cucumbers at the room temperature (overnight), do we have to cover them?
hi Benjamin,
yes.. you don’t have to close it tight..but.. cover them.. ^^
Hi Aeri! I made a batch of cucumber kimchi today according to your directions, and I cannot wait to taste it!
Thank you so much!
- Jie 馬傑 (In Korean, I’m called 마걸) ^__^
hi Ma Jie,
I hope you like your cucumber kimchi.
Oh.. you are living in Korea.. I envy you.. hehe thanks
Oh my goodness…. I’ve made this so many times! My husband keeps asking me to make more. So, that’s what I will be doing Saturday!
hi Bo,
Now bo unni is an expert for cucumber kimchi.. jjang ^^ thanks
side dish r alway YUMMY … but i wondering the sea salt water after boiling do u pure them in rite away or wait till them cool down???
hi x13abiez,
Pour the salt water when it’s hot not cool.. ^^
Thank you for posting this recipe!
I do have a question though.. I noticed that after I’ve stuffed them and put them in a container, the cucumbers have let out a lot of liquid. Is this normal? What should I do with the liquid? Leave it?
hi Adrienne,
yes it’s normal to get liquid while it’s fermenting.. but it shouldn’t be too much though.. when you drain the water after you soak the cucumber in salt water… you should drain the water enough..but as I said.. some of the liquid is normal.. so don’t worry ^^ thanks
the liquid makes the best sauce to eat over rice or meat or other vegetables!
hi Bo,
haha.. you are right.. ^^ yum~~~
Hi Aeri,
I would like to try this recipe but have some questions.
Can you please help?
1) about leaving the cucumbers out overnight. It’s pretty hot here during summer, is it still okay to leave the cucumbers out overnight without refrigeration?
2) Also, do the cucumbers need to be covered in the container for leaving out overnight, or should it be without a lid?
3) Lastly, once refrigerated, how long will the cucumbers last. I am sure they will be tasty and finished quickly, but can they last like a week or two?
I look forward to trying this recipe, as I have tried others from your website with great success.
Thanks a lot.
hi Wakkun,
1) if it’s too hot over there.. leave it out for one or 2 hours….and then put it in the refrigerator..
2) yes.. cover the container.. not too tight..loose the lid a little bit…
3) yep.. you can eat it a week or two.. but as you said.. it will be done eating quickly..hehe thanks
I´m so exited..I just made this and now im waiting for the result…In Sweden we got a different kind of Cumber but i think its alright. We also have a cucumber name Västerås gurka..Next time i use that one..THX…
hi Jimmy alias Tony,
I wonder how it turned out.. hehe this can be a little too salty… I hope you liked the result.. thanks
can I use kochujung instead of the kochucaro? not sure if i spelled that correctly.
hi bridget,
oops.. sorry but you don’t use kochujang for kimchi. You need kochugaru.. ^^ thanks
ok, went and got some! now to give this a whirl
hi bridget,
hehe great.. i hope you like this. Good luck.
Hello Aeris.
I wanted to thank you for sharing your recipes with the public. I got a chance to make a few of the yummy recipes.
I actually had a question about the kimchi cucumbers. I could not find a place to get garlic chives. Is it possible to make this recipe without garlic chives, or possibly a substitute ingredient to make this happen?
hi 4thgen,
oh.. if you don’t have garlic chives.. then increase the amount of green onion instead.. you can add some carrot to have enough volume of filling too. Good luck.. thanks
Hi Aeri, can I slide the cucumber in state cut an X. would is taste the same. Cause i never do kimchi b4 and i only ate at restaurant and they slide their cucumber. Thank you
hi Tracy,
The thing they serve in a Korean restaurant is a side-dish not a kimchi.. if you slice and soak them in salt water..since it’s smaller pieces..it will be too salty at the end.. ^^:; if you can I recommend you to cut it an X as I did.. hehe thanks ;D
I’ve just finished it!Thank you for your recipe!But I respected the proportions and it was very salty how come???
hi Pauline,
oh.. so you are saying.. you did exactly same thing what I did..and the cucumber kimchi came out too salty ?? Usually kimchi is salty..but it shouldn’t be too salty.. So I don’t know what to say..if you are willing to try this again later.. maybe cut the mount of salt.. some people told me they liked this recipe.. anyway..sorry about the result.
Thank you so much for this website! I just stumbled upon it. I am not Korean but lived there for 8 years and have tried to look for a site with all these yummy foods finally!
Hi Cindy,
Wow.. 8 years is a long time~~~ I guess you tried many delicious Korean food over there..hehe hope you made lots lots of good memories in Korea. Thanks
I love your website. I was adopted from Korea when I was 8 months old, so I never learned how to make Korean food. I am married to a Korean man so I really had to learn. So far my husband has loved everything that I have made from your website. He has said a couple of times that it’s better than his moms, which is a great compliment since she is a great cook. Keep up the great work. God Bless
K. Kim
hi K. Kim,
Your comment is very special to me. I’m so happy to know you. It’s great you married Korean guy and can cook Korean food for him. I’m sure you are a very sweet wife..hehe Hope to see you more often. God bless you too.
Hi Aeri! Thanks again so much for sharing! I’m going to try this! It’s one of my favorites and my husband loves cucumber kimchee too!
hi joy,
hehe.. Enjoy your cucumber kimchi.. I hope you and your husband like it. thanks
Good morning, I tried the Cucumbers as well as the DakDoRiTang and it turned out delicious. The Oi SoBaGi was too salty for my taste, do you think it’s okay to use less salt in the water or would that mess up the recipe? Thanks again for this website, I love it!
hi Janina,
oh.. thanks for trying my recipes.. You can always adjust the seasoning especially salt and sugar depending on your taste.. so yes.. you can reduce the amount of the salt if it was too salty for you. thanks
Aeri,
I tried Oi Sobagi today. Actually, I just finished making it . Also, I made Patbingsoo.
I really love your website. I think you are very talented in cooking Korean food. I totally love your simple and neat directions of making Korean food. My husband and my 2.5 year-old son loves what I made following your recipe. I am sure my 7 months daughter will love them too in the future.
Thank you and God bless you!!
Hi, megan
Thanks for trying my recipes.
wow.. your 2.5 old son loves Korean food?? cool~~~ I hope my son will love Korean food too in the future…hehe You are related to Korea in any ways ??? I just wondered…. God bless you and your family,,,
This is so yummy!!!!!!!! I want!!!!!
HI, chuiyew
hehe… take it !!!!!
Have a great week my sis~~~
My 할머니 makes the best 오이 소박이!
= w = 0<#
My favorites~
+I really appreciate what you are doing! It exposes Korean culture/food, and gives people access to delicious recipes!
감사합니다~!!
Hi, Hwa-Jin (화진..right? )
Thanks !!
You are a Korean right ? ^^ Very happy to meet you !!! Yep, it’s cool to meet people from the world who are interested in Korean food.
Yep.
I’m Korean, and you’ve spelt it right!
I’m just so used to spelling my name in English, that I forgot to spell it in Korean…. xD
Hi, 화진 ^^
Hey… you can’t forget the Korean spelling for your Korean name. =P hehe.. joke~~ I’m happy to meet an another cute Korean. hehe.. have a great week ~~~
hi! i like your version of this dish. tried others but didn’t like it. so, i’ll make this with your instructions^. btw, did you mean japanese cucumbers? those that u used korea? pls tell me. would like to use the right ones. we have many types of them over here.
Hi, layping
cucumber kimchi is not may favorite dish even I love cucumber… hehe anyway..I hope you will like my recipe. You might be right… Japanese cucumbers.. they are thin..and the skin color is very light ?? if they are..that’s what I’m talking about..
that’s look so so yummy^^
thanks for the recipe..
Hi, Tofee
Have a great week !!!
hehe.. thank you very much for your comment
yehey! thanks for the recipe Aeri… looks great as usual… the video and the photography is very good… keep up the good work… ill be making this one tomorrow…. can’t wait to try it…
Hi, jhny69
Thanks for your comment !!
I hope your cucumber kimchi turned out great. thanks !!!
hello Aeri! I have been a silent reader for awhile now. Today when i showed this recipe to my mom, she immediately wanted to make it! So, she sent me to the store to grab the ingredients. It was so simple to make and looks delicious! Thank you for the recipe! I cant wait to eat it!!! =)
Hi, LinduhxDee
Nice to meet you !!!
haha.. so your mom made this kimchi for you. cool ~~~ I hope you like this recipe. thanks !!!
Hi Aeri!
This is one of my favorites!! I absolutely love this dish. I have made it a few times. Although I have never tried salting the cucumbers with your (hot) method. Does it really make it more crunchy? I should try that. Yummy!!!
Hi, MrsDarth
Oh.. you love this..hehe
Yes.. you can see.. after you make the kimchi.. later.. the cucumber has still good texture with that way. thanks !!! I’m hungry all the time now @,@ hehe..
i LOVE oi sobagi!
nice presentation on the plate
i’m telling you, you should be a food stylist. 
have a beautiful & blessed day.
oh and please pray for us over here in hawaii – there’s a huge hurricane coming our way.
*love you!*
Hi, farleen
Oh.. food stylist @,@ I want to study about it actually.. hehe.. thanks !!!
My husband told me last night, there will be hurricane over there today or tomorrow.. I worry you.. We will pray for you. Hope to hear from you soon.
Love you, my friend ~~~