Addictive Wasabi-Pickled Cucumbers

Put the wasabi, mentsuyu, and shiro-dashi in a bowl and whisk thoroughly to make the seasoning mixture. Mixing in a bowl is recommended so the wasabi dissolves evenly, but if you don't want more dishes to wash, you can add the seasonings directly to the plastic bag instead.

Wash the cucumbers. If the bumps are prominent, sprinkle salt directly onto the cucumbers on a cutting board and roll them back and forth by hand; this removes the bumps easily. After washing, wipe off the moisture thoroughly.

To prepare for blanching, cut the cucumbers in half so they fit easily in the pot.

Put water in a pot, add the salt, and then turn on the heat. Adding salt later risks a sudden boil-over, so adding it first is safer.

Once boiling, add the cucumbers and blanch briefly for just 20 seconds. Blanching briefly removes the compounds that cause a grassy smell and softens the surface cells so the flavor soaks in more easily. Boiling with salt added stabilizes the chlorophyll, helping keep the vivid color.

After 20 seconds, transfer them to room-temperature water to cool them down all at once. Ice water can cause the skin to shrink or wrinkle from the sudden temperature change, so cool them gently in room-temperature water. Once cooled, wipe off the moisture thoroughly.

Cut off the cucumber ends and slice them on a slightly thick diagonal so they keep their crisp texture while letting the flavor soak in even in a short time.

Put the cucumbers in a plastic bag and add the seasoning mixture. Holding the mouth of the bag closed, gently massage everything to work the seasoning in.

Finally, press out the air from the bag thoroughly so all the cucumbers are evenly soaked in the seasoning.

Pickle in the refrigerator like this for 1 hour. While pickling, the osmotic pressure of the salt draws moisture out of the cucumbers, so turning the bag over a few times along the way pickles them more evenly.

When the time is up, take them out and arrange them on a serving dish. Taste and adjust the pickling time to your liking.