Cucumber Stick Salad
スティックきゅうりのサラダ · Stick Kyuri no Salad
By Aoi, licensed nutritionist · From a Japanese preschool lunch menu
This is one of the simplest side dishes on the preschool menu: cucumber cut into short sticks, briefly blanched, and tossed in a gentle dressing of sesame, sugar, sesame oil, vinegar and soy sauce. Blanching softens the cucumber just enough for little mouths, and heating the dressing cooks off the sharp edge of the vinegar so even children who usually turn their noses up at anything sour will happily eat it. The short sticks are easy for small hands and spoons, and the nutty toasted sesame makes a plain vegetable feel like a treat.
Wheat-free, but uses soy sauce (made with wheat). Japanese school-lunch allergy menus usually allow it, so check with your doctor. How to read the labels
Added. Open the recipe helper (bottom right) → ☰ Menu → 🛒 Shopping list to see the ingredients for your family size.
Printing uses the number of adults and children set under Ingredients, so set those first.
Ingredients
Amounts for 1 child (1 serving). An adult counts as 2 servings.
One serving here is 1.5× the portion served to a child in a Japanese preschool, sized for Western appetites. An adult counts as two servings. Tap an ingredient to check it off.
Ingredients
- 54 gcucumber
Seasonings
- 1 gwhite sesame seeds
- 1.7 gsugar
- 0.6 gsesame oil
- 1.8 gvinegar
- 2.4 gsoy sauce
Directions
- 1
Cut the cucumber into short sticks and boil briefly.
- 2
Toast the white sesame seeds (optional).
- 3
Combine the seasonings and heat them to cook off the sharpness of the vinegar.
- 4
Drain the cucumber from step 1 well, then toss with the sesame seeds from step 2 and the dressing from step 3.
Nutrition
| Per | 1 serving | 1 adult serving | Your total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 27 kcal | 54 kcal | 27 kcal |
| Protein | 0.9 g | 1.8 g | 0.9 g |
| Fat | 1.2 g | 2.4 g | 1.2 g |
| Carbohydrates | 3.6 g | 7.2 g | 3.6 g |
| Fiber | 0.8 g | 1.5 g | 0.8 g |
| Salt equivalent | 0.3 g | 0.6 g | 0.3 g |
| Calcium | 25.5 mg | 51 mg | 25.5 mg |
| Iron | 0.3 mg | 0.6 mg | 0.3 mg |
| Potassium | 121.5 mg | 243 mg | 121.5 mg |
| Energy | Protein | Fat | Carbs | Fiber | Salt equiv. | Calcium | Iron | Potassium | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 serving | 27 kcal | 0.9 g | 1.2 g | 3.6 g | 0.8 g | 0.3 g | 25.5 mg | 0.3 mg | 121.5 mg |
| 1 adult serving | 54 kcal | 1.8 g | 2.4 g | 7.2 g | 1.5 g | 0.6 g | 51 mg | 0.6 mg | 243 mg |
Values are per serving (1.5× the Japanese preschool portion); an adult serving is double. They were calculated by a licensed Japanese nutritionist using the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan. "Salt equivalent" is sodium × 2.54, the standard Japanese measure. Allergen flags cover egg, milk and wheat only and come from the nutritionist's records. Soy sauce and miso are made with wheat but are usually allowed on Japanese wheat-free school menus, so check with your doctor.
