Korean recipes:

Korean cucumber pickles (oijangajji)

I’m introducing Korean style salty cucumber pickles (oijangajji). Unlike Western cucumber pickles, oi jangajji is seasoned with a lot of other condiments and spices to make a side dish. I’ll show you 2 side dishes that use oijangajji.

When you choose cucumbers, make sure they are firm and the skin of the cucumbers is dark green, so that it will be crunchy when they are made into pickles.

How to make Korean style salty cucumber pickles (oijangajji):

Ingredients:
Kirby cucumbers (5 pound: 2.5 kilograms), water, kosher salt, vinegar, apples

cucumbers

  1. Wash and drain 5 pounds of cucumbers.
  2. In a large pot put 9 cups water, 1 cup salt, and 1 cup vinegar.
  3. Remove the cores from two small apples. Slice the apples thinly and put them into the pot.
    brine
  4. Stir the pot of brine and apple slices with a wooden spoon until the salt on the bottom of the pot has dissolved.
  5. Bring to a boil over high heat for about 40 minutes.
  6. Strain the cooked apples.
  7. Put the cucumbers into the hot brine. Turn them over with a wooden spoon
  8. Let the pot sit until the brine cools down.
  9. Move the cucumbers into a glass jar and pour the brine over the cucumbers.
    pickle2
  10. Close the lid and let it sit for 12-24 hours at room temperature
  11. Drain the cucumbers by pouring out the brine into a pot.
  12. Boil the brine again for 10 minutes to sterilize it.
    *tip: leave the cucumber in the jar
  13. Turn off the heat and let the brine cool down.
  14. Pour the brine into the cucumbers and refrigerate it.
    *tip: Wait at least 1 week to start eating
    pickle3

Yes, one week! : )

Ok, let’s make two kinds of authentic side dishes with oijangajji!

Oijangajji muchim (Korean style cucumber pickle side dish)

Ingredients:
2 pickled cucumbers (about ¾ to 1 cup), hot pepper flakes, garlic, green onion, green chile pepper, honey, sesame oil, roasted sesame seeds

Directions:

  1. Slice 2 cucumber pickles thinly and put them into a mixing bowl.
  2. Add 1-2 ts of hot pepper flakes, 1 clove of minced garlic, 1 tbs chopped green onion, 2 ts chopped green chile pepper, ½ ts honey, and ½ ts sesame oil. Mix well with your hand.
  3. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle ½ tbs roasted sesame seeds.oijangajjimuchim

Serve with rice!

Oijangajji naengguk (cold cucumber pickle soup)

Ingredients:
2 cucumber pickles, garlic, vinegar, hot pepper flakes, salt, green onion, green chile pepper, red chile pepper or red bell pepper, honey, and ice cubes

Directions:

  1. Slice 2 pickled oijangajji thinly and put it into a glass bowl.
  2. Add 1 clove of minced garlic, 2 ts vinegar, 1 ts hot pepper flakes, 1 ts salt, 1 tbs chopped green chile pepper, 1 tbs chopped green onion, 1 tbs chopped red bell pepper or red chile pepper, 1 ts honey, and combine it with a spoon.
  3. Add 1 cup purified water, 7-8 ice cubes , and mix it.
    oijangajjinaengguk

Serve with rice.

2sidedishes

59 Comments:

  1. ramen_kimchi My profile page joined 8/10
    Posted August 13th, 2010 at 8:33 am | # |

    I planned to make this and I like to know must I use kirby cucumber?Can I use just normal cucumber I can find ? Will it have any different ?

  2. Fariba Iran My profile page joined 7/10
    Posted August 1st, 2010 at 6:54 am | # |

    Hello dear Maangnchi,
    Here in Iran we make cucumber pickles with water , salt , vinger, galice and some dried or fresh herbals like tarragon and dill.

  3. Mae06 Massachusetts My profile page joined 7/10
    Posted July 19th, 2010 at 5:52 pm | # |

    Oh,I made this and it came out so good! next time i need to make more, because my family loved it!

    Thanks!

  4. Colorfulhyde California My profile page joined 5/10
    Posted May 21st, 2010 at 2:33 pm | # |

    Hello Maangchi! I love your website and all the recipes! I made this pickles and loveeee them >_<! …and so did my family unfortunately, I did the cold cucumber soup and put it on the table while I was getting the rice and when I came back it was all gone!!! good thing that I did a lot of cucumbers! ^__^ Thank you for all your hard work!

  5. Joclamp Miami My profile page joined 2/10
    Posted February 22nd, 2010 at 10:13 pm | # |

    Maangchi:

    I am looking forward to trying out this recipe as I am a huge fan of pickles of all types. Do you think this might work with green tomatoes (like you find in a New York Deli) as well as cucumbers?

    • Maangchi New York City My profile page joined 8/08
      Posted February 23rd, 2010 at 1:33 am | # |

      I have never tasted green tomato pickles. : ) I don’t know if this recipe works for green tomatoes. Do some experiments and let us know the result.

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