Cucumber, Chili & Sesame Salad
Easy
Prep 30 minutes
This Asian cucumber, chili and sessame salad only takes 5 minutes to prepare and only 10 minutes to allow all of the flavours to infuse. It’s refreshing and tasty. The salad goes very well with pretty much any dish. Stir-fry, braised meats, noodles, and deep-fried goodies. You name it! I consider it one of the easiest side dishes to make on a busy weekday, to add color and nutrition to your dinner table.
All over, cucumbers are considered the ideal go-to fruit for hot weather and to accompany hot food. Versions of this salad, traditionally known as “pai huang gua”, are sometimes spiked with dried chiles and Sichuan peppercorns for more dimensions of flavor. The smashing process, a classic Chinese technique, cracks the skin, helps release the seeds and splits the flesh into appealing craggy pieces. Salting and chilling the cracked cucumbers give them the perfect cool, crunchy, watery mouth feel.
The crisp cucumber is mixed with plenty of garlic, drizzled with an appetizing blend of soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, then finished with a few drops of sesame oil. The sauce is light, yet it has a distinct sour flavor with a hint of sweetness, enhanced by the strong aroma of garlic.
Ingredients
- about 6 – 7 lebanese or thin skinned cucumbers
- 1 tsp salt + more
- 1 Tsp sugar + more
- 1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- chilli
- fresh coriander
- toasted sesame seeds
Recipe Steps
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Dry the cucumber with a paper towel. Place the cucumber on a large cutting board and carefully use a cleaver to crush it. If you don’t own a cleaver, a meat pounder will work as well. Then cut it into bite-size pieces and place them into a colander.
- Sp[rinkle over the cucumbers a small amount of salt and sugar and toss to cover. Place the cucumbers in the fridge over a bowl to catch the escaping liquid.
- After about 10/15 minutes, drain the cucumbers and place into a bowl.
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Add the garlic and chopped chili on top of the cucumber.
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Combine the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, salt and sesame and olive oil in a small bowl and mix well.
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Right before serving, pour the sauce mixture over the cucumber and mix well.
- Top with coriander and serve.
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