Refreshing spring side-dish salad with Asian flavors
This is a post from Karen. Back in 1976 when I was 9 our family and a number of others on our block hosted high school students from Japan. Some of the students were game to host a potluck with dishes from their hometown. Minoru was staying with our neighbor and he put together a dish his mother would make. He enjoyed its simplicity and fresh spring flavors. We enjoyed it so much, my mom made a point to get the recipe from him.
It would be over a decade before we ventured into sushi, but our family has fully embraced that as well. My dad and I even took a class on making sushi. My son was 3 when I took him for his first taste. He was starving after his Tae Kwon Do “Tiny Tigers” class and right across the street was what would become his favorite sushi bar, so I walked him in and let him order off of the picture menu. He picked Ikura, which is the sushi topped with Salmon roe. I had not ordered that personally because it was a texture I wasn’t into, and fishier than I chose to venture. I didn’t think I should be ordering something I grew up putting on the end of my fishing hook to catch trout! I was about to stop my son from ordering it, but then told myself that I shouldn’t censor or bias his food choices just because they might not be mine. Who knows, he might like it. And guess what, he did! I asked him what he liked about it and he told me, “It tastes good and I like the way the balls pop in my teeth!” For the next two years that was always the first thing he ordered. The owner and the sushi chef were so delighted to see this American kid enjoying their sushi instead of asking for buttered pasta that they made a point to spoil him rotten and ensure that his parents brought him back, which we happily did for many years before we moved. But I digress, back to the Harusame Salad and 1976:
Back then we didn’t have rice vinegar as an option, so mom used apple cider vinegar. We used regular white sugar at the time, but now I’ve tried alternatives and settled on palm sugar. Whichever one you use, I make the sauce first so the sugar has time to dissolve. I have listed one tablespoon of sugar, but the original recipe said 1-2 TBS. One works fine for me. If you only have access to thick-skinned and waxed cucumbers I would go ahead and peel those.
Short on time?
I have also cut the noodles by picking up a hand full and cutting them with my kitchen scissors directly into the bowl.
I have experimented over the years with different vegetables and proteins. I was out of ham but had chicken. And when I was out of cucumbers I used red bell pepper or carrots. But I always stuck to Minoru’s premise that everything should be uniform in size, roughly 3″ lengths for the noodles, vegetable, and protein. Once it is done, it’s all I can do to wait and give the flavors a chance to meld for at least 30 minutes. It doesn’t last long after that because we all love it so much. I do make a point to use chopsticks when I eat this. They hold onto the noodles better than a fork can. I also use it up within 1-2 days. Otherwise, the cucumbers get soft, releasing more of their liquid and ultimately diluting the flavor.
What’s good: Very easy, fresh flavors, great texture between the crunch of the cucumbers and the chew of the noodles and ham.
What’s not: It disappears too fast. Will get watery and dull if not eaten within a couple days.
printer-friendly PDF and Master Cook file (click link to open recipe)
Harusame Salad
Recipe By: Minoru, a Japanese Exchange student that stayed with our neighbors in 1976
Serving Size: 8
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce, low sodium
1 tablespoon sugar — I use palm sugar
150 grams Saifun Bean Threads — dried bean noodle package, softened and cut in roughly 3″ lengths
1 large cucumber — or 1 large Japanese or English Cucumer or 2-3 Persian cucumbers cut in matchsticks.
6 ounces ham slices — Black Forest or Canadian bacon works, cut in matchsticks
Garnish: toasted white sesame seeds, chopped green cilantro, onion or chives
Additions: red bell pepper, seaweed, tofu, carrots, shredded egg omlette, chicken
1. Mix together rice vinegar, soy sauce and sugar and set aside.
2. Set noodles in a deep dish and cover with boiling water, let stand about 20 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water, drain well and chop into 3″ lengths. Place cut noodles in mixing bowl.
3. Cut cucumber and ham into 3″ matchstick pieces and add to bowl with noodles.
4. Give sauce a final stir and pour over noodle mixture, toss all ingredients to mix well.
5. Let chill in refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving.
6. Use within 2 days.
Per Serving: 129 Calories; 4g Fat (25.0% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 20g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 13mg Cholesterol; 448mg Sodium; 3g Total Sugars; trace Vitamin D; 14mg Calcium; trace Iron; 152mg Potassium; 51mg Phosphorus.
Fortunately, I had some fresh-frozen cod in my freezer. I’ve used sole in the past, but have been wanting to find more ways to work cod into our menu. In this preparation, working from frozen is nice because after just a little thaw I can slice them more easily into uniform pieces for more even cooking.
The Peruvian Chile Lime seasoning from 
New for me this time was the 
previous entries, we are doing what we can to encourage Vaughan’s confidence in the kitchen too!
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