Recipe: Korean Spicy Pickled Cucumbers

All of my friends know that I loooove Korean food, and I got my mom hooked on going to Korean restaurants just for their side dishes. Last summer, I decided to experiment and make my own version of Korean spicy pickled cucumbers because I thought, it can’t be THAT hard to make! And so I did, and my mom was impressed B) I wrote a post way back in the day when I first started this blog about cucumbers and briefly talked about how I make this recipe, but I wanted to share it since I made it today and took pics this time (yay!!)

Ingredients you’ll need:

  • cucumbers (large or small, doesn’t really IMG_2080matter, just on how large of a batch you want to make!)
  • red pepper flakes
  • salt and sugar
  • white or red wine vinegar (I used red wine vinegar today, it’s a little sweeter)
  • soy sauce
  • a head of garlic

The steps are actually really simple and the prep time is super quick!

  1. Skin the cucumbers (or keep the skin on, whatever your preference–I kept 2 cucumbers’ skin on because my mom stopped me when I was halfway through peeling them haha).
  2. Dice them up into little cubes so they get soaked in sauce. Put them in a ziploc bag or a big bowlIMG_2082
  3. Peel and dice the garlic.
  4. Add the garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of salt and sugar to make the sauce. For this part, you can use your judgment because everyone’s preference is different; some people will want it more sour or more spicy, but it’s up to you! I use a lot of soy sauce, half as much vinegar, a generous amount of red pepper flakes, and a little bit of salt and sugar.
  5. TASTE THE SAUCE and make sure you like it! Because once you pour the sauce into your cucumber batch, there’s no going back… 😛IMG_2081
  6. When you’re satisfied with the sauce, pour it into your cucumbers and mix well and wrap it up to marinate for a few hours.

After a few hours of checking on your cucumbers and mixing the bag and turning it over a few times, it should be ready to eat! Enjoy 🙂

cucumber

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