Gochugaru cucumber salad

Late-afternoon snack. I love gochugaru but don’t have any in the house. I made my own quick approximation by toasting 1 tablespoon of chili flakes in a dry pan, cooling, adding to 1 tablespoon of paprika, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and a pinch of smoked paprika. Ground it all down in a pestle and mortar.

Mandolined a whole cucumber and salted for 10 minutes. Drained off the resulting water and added a tablespoon of my gochugaru mix, a clove of minced garlic, and a teaspoon each of sugar, soy, rice vinegar, mixed sesame seeds, and sesame oil. Refrigerated for 15 minutes to let the flavours develop.

Then served with a dollop of mayo with some chili garlic oil stirred through it, garnished with a little dusting of the gochugaru powder.