Sexy Wavy Japanese Sesame Cucumbers

I am currently back in Switzerland for various reasons. I'm really not sure how long I'll be here, but in any case there's no denying that it is a very comfortable, if rather expensive, place to live. We are currently staying at a place a bit out of the city of Zürich itself, and I must say that I really missed going to my old haunts - Migros and Coop, both fabulous supermarkets; the food halls at the Globus and Jelmoli department stores; and above all, the little Asian grocery stores that used to be my regular weekly stops - Nishi's the Japanese store, Lian Hua the general Asian store, YumiHana the Korean store, and Aggarwal the South Asian store. (You can see all of them listed under Switzerland, Zürich on this page. I'm also pleasantly surprised to see the regular supermarkets, Migros and Coop (and others probably) stocking more Asiatische Lebensmittel (Asian ingredients) too. It's way easier to get the Asian ingredients I find so comforting than in Avignon.

A problem that I still have to deal with when trying to make anything Japanese here is that while I can get most of the flavoring ingredients, the fresh produce is another story. Take cucumbers for instance. Japanese cucumbers are picked when they are still small and thin, about 2cm (3/4 inch or so) in diameter at most, with thin skins and barely any seeds. But here, most cucumbers are much bigger, thicker and longer (uh) and are much longer too, with thicker, tougher skins.

A very pretty way of cutting cucumbers in Japan is called jabara giri (蛇腹切り), which means bellows cut or 'snake rib' cut. You basically make thin, diagonal cuts into one side of the cucumber about halfway through its thickness, turn the cucumber over and make the same cuts on the other side. When it's exposed to salt or soy sauce, the sliced parts expand and become twisty-wavy and are really pretty, even a bit sexy.

There are several videos that show this cutting technique, such as this one or this one. The problem is, they all require the cucumber to be quite thin and seedless - like typical Japanese cucumbers.

Here I tried cutting a whole European style cucumber that was about 12 inches (30 cm) long this way.

For the thin end area it works fine, but the thick mid section bits are too big and clumsy for my liking.Besides, the seed part is pretty watery, and I'd rather not have it in there.

So instead, I did what I usually do to big cucumbers - cut them in half lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds and surrounding area with a spoon. I then made thin, diagonal cuts into the cucumber half, almost all the way through but not quite. If I slip cut all the way down sometimes, it's ok because I will cut the cucumber into pieces later anyway.

Here are the halved cucumber pieces with the thin diagonal cuts. They aren't quite as pretty as the whole cucumber ones, but still pretty sexy. And the main purpose of the thin cuts, to allow flavors to penetrate the cucumber better, is still valid. (No, there is no innuendo in this article. None at all.)

I turned the pieces into a very simple cucumber salad or side dish. It is great with any Japanese meal or Asian style meal. Actually I have been making a big bowl of this once a week or so recently, and it always disappears within a couple of days.

Here's how they look before the sesame seeds go on top. Aren't they pretty? Since they're much easier to make than they seem, they're great for dinner-with-company too.