Let’s make Delicious Gochujang Pineapple Cucumber Salad.
Before making this delicious recipe, we need to know what Gochujang is all about; certainly, we are familiar with pineapple and cucumber.
Gochujang is a salty, spicy Korean chili paste recipe garnished with chili pepper, soybeans, rice, and salt.
Gochujang can hardly be seen in grocery stores; once you get hold of it, you can do well to refrigerate it. Thus, Gochujang can stay longer in the refrigerator.
How to Make Delicious Gochujang Pineapple Cucumber Salad
Basically, we need to make choices of what ingredients to use. These are likely questions to ask when making this delicious recipe:
Can I use Fresh or Frozen Pineapple?
If you can get hold of fresh pineapple is perfectly good, but frozen pineapple can go. All you need is to unfreeze the pineapple at room temperature before making use of it.
However, choices differ because some people may like choice frozen over fresh pineapple. To increase its taste, you can add canned pineapple juice, but I love using natural fruits. Remember that added canned pineapple will increase the sweetening. Thus the flavor may not be as unique and natural as the fresh or frozen pineapple.
Can I substitute the ingredients with another?
The answer is “Yes.” The flavor combination has lots of uniqueness; for that reason, you can substitute its other ingredients.
- Gochujang: Most time, getting gochujang is difficult in some countries. So in the absence of gochujang, you can substitute with Tajin seasoning. This seasoning has a similar salty, spicy flavor, it’s not really a paste, but rather it comes in a powder form. The quantity to use for the dressing is about 1 tsp Tajin.
- Pineapple: You can substitute pineapple with cantaloupe, mango, or watermelon.
Can I serve the Gochujang recipe with any other side dish?
Yes! This recipe can make a perfect side dish to:
- Baked ginger salmon
- Orange chicken
- Coconut chicken strips
Steps on How to make delicious Gochujang Pineapple Cucumber Salad
- In a bowl, thaw 1/2 Ib ( roughly 2 cups ) pineapple chunks. Dice one cucumber; you may likely have the same quantity as the pineapple. Dice your cilantro ( 1/2 cup is enough). At this stage, combine the pineapple and cucumber.
- Mix your 1.5 tsp gochujang, 1 tsp sugar, 3 tsp rice vinegar, and stir thoroughly.
- Pour the sauce over your diced pineapple, cucumber, and cilantro. Stir thoroughly and allow the sauce to marinate.
- Your salad is ready to serve. You can refrigerate for some hours before consumption.
Delicious Gochujang Pineapple Cucumber Salad
Ingredients for Gochujang Pineapple Cucumber Salad
- 1 cucumber (3 cups chopped)
- 1/2 lb. frozen pineapple chunks (2 cups)
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1.5 tsp gochujang
- 3 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp sugar
Directions on delicious Gochujang Pineapple Cucumber Salad
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Thaw the pineapple chunks and chop the cucumber into pieces roughly the same size as the pineapple chunks. Roughly chop the cilantro.
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Prepare the dressing by whisking together the gochujang, rice vinegar, and sugar until dissolved.
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Combine the cucumber, pineapple, cilantro, and dressing in a bowl. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to eat. Stir the salad just before eating to redistribute the dressing