Prawn, cucumber and wakame salad

This is my favourite salad in the world. It has depth in the seaweed and dried bonito flakes and a freshness in the crunch of cucumber and juicy prawns all bought together in a sweet, salty and sour dressing.  Today, I didn't bother salting the cucumbers, I just sliced them straight in. I can be impatient, especially when I'm hungry.
I am on a self imposed baking ban this week. So will probably blogging more meals, we can't live off cake alone. 
Having said that, I've got a few posts from before Christmas in Spain I had forgotten to post so Pistachio, lemon and rosewater cake may make an appearance to sweeten things up a little.

Prawn, cucumber and wakame salad
Serves 4 - Recipe by Reiko Hashimoto 

1 large cucumber
1/2 teaspoon salt
10g dried wakame seaweed
100g cooked peeled prawns
2cm piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced
10g bonito flakes

dressing-
55ml rice vinegar
1/2 tsp instant dashi powder
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tsp caster sugar
1 tbsp mirin
1 tsp grated fresh root ginger

1. Mix all ingredients for dressing together, except for the ginger in a small pan
2. Bring to the boil, for only a minute or so, until the sugar dissolves
3. For the salad, peel and halve cucumber lengthways
4. Scrape out seeds and thinly slice the cucumber on the diagonal
5. Place the cucumber in a small bowl, sprinkle with salt, mix and leave for 15 minutes. 
Place in colander and rinse with cold water, drain, thoroughly and pat dry. 
6. Put the wakame in a bowl of cold water for 5-7 mins to soften. Drain, squeeze out water.
7. Mix everything together and decorate with the bonito flakes.