Asazuke
浅漬け·(ah-sah-zoo-keh)
Japanese Breakfasts & Bento Boxes
Forget the bottled pickle bases and the Western blogs drowning vegetables in soy sauce. True asazuke—the crisp, pure, addictive quick pickles found on every grandmother’s table in Tokyo—relies on a strict mathematical truth: salt must equal exactly two percent of the vegetable's weight. Combine that simple ratio with the umami of kelp and the vacuum seal of a plastic bag, and you capture the exact, unadulterated essence of a Japanese home kitchen on a busy weeknight.
Before you start
Weigh your vegetables accurately using a digital kitchen scale.
The foundation of this recipe is the strict two percent salt ratio by weight. If you swap cucumbers for napa cabbage or turnips, ensure the total peeled weight is exactly 10 1/2 ounces (300 grams) so the 6 grams of salt works perfectly.
Ingredients
- Persian cucumbers10 1/2 oz
- coarse sea salt6 g
- dried kombu3 g
- rice vinegar1/2 tsp
- sugar1/2 tsp
Method
- 01
Combine the cucumbers and seasonings in a zip-top plastic bag.
Add the cucumbers, precisely weighed coarse sea salt, snipped kombu, rice vinegar, and sugar to a medium zip-top bag.
- 02
Massage the vegetables and squeeze out all the air to create a vacuum seal.
Gently rub the bag from the outside for about 30 seconds to distribute the salt and dissolve the sugar. Push the vegetables to the bottom, fold the bag tightly over itself to expel absolutely every pocket of air, and seal it to mimic the heavy stones traditionally used in wooden pickle barrels.
- 03
Refrigerate the sealed bag for at least 30 minutes.
You can leave them for up to 12 hours, though 30 minutes is enough to draw out moisture and drive the umami into the cellular structure of the cucumber.
- 04
Gently squeeze the pickles to remove excess brine before serving.
Open the bag and take a handful of the cucumbers, squeezing them firmly but gently over the sink. If you skip this, the pickles will be watery and quickly lose their crisp texture. Serve immediately.
Notes
Rescue overly salty pickles with the calling salt method.
If you leave the pickles in the fridge for a few days and they become too salty, do not rinse them under tap water, which washes away the umami. Instead, submerge them in a 1.5% salt water solution (about 1 3/4 cups water mixed with 1 teaspoon salt) for 20 minutes. The weak brine gently draws out excess internal sodium without stripping the kelp flavor.
From Cook Japanese in America.