Smashed Cucumber Salad

Smashed Cucumber Salad has its origins in the Chinese province of Sichuan. You will however find versions of this cucumber salad across eastern Asia. This is a very simple salad of crunchy cucumbers with a light summery spicy-sweet-sour dressing. What is interesting about this Chinese cucumber salad is how the cucumbers are prepped – they get smashed! This creates cracks/ a rough surface on the cucumber pieces that soak up the dressing really well.

I haven’t been to China, but you can find cucumbers everywhere come summer in India, especially in the North. We have the long thin almost snake like local varieties as well as the regular far watery ones. English cucumbers are quite common as well, of late. The cucumber isn’t one of my favourite vegetables but I do like it in certain dishes including this salad.

English or Lebanese cucumbers are the best for this kind of salad. These are longish thin and dark green skinned cucumbers with fewer or no seeds. They also have a deeper flavor and are less watery than regular cucumbers. Wash and pat them dry. Trim both ends and then give them a few gentle whacks along the length with a rolling pin. The idea is to gently crack the cucumbers unevenly, not turn them mushy!

Salt the cucumber pieces lightly so that they lose excess liquid (use this elsewhere in your cooking or in a juice or smoothie). This will keep the salad from becoming soggy. Mix in torn fresh coriander leaves and chopped spring onions (not traditional) for added flavor.

Mix together a little salt, some sugar, light soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic and ginger paste in to smooth dressing. Add the dressing and some red chilli oil into the salad. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds (or peanuts though not traditional) and serve immediately.

If you don’t have rice wine vinegar, use apple cider vinegar or lime or lemon juice. You can make your own chilli oil by heating up a little sesame oil and dropping some red chilli flakes into it. The oil needs to be hot enough to froth when the chilli flakes are added. It will give off a nice smoky aroma. If the oil is too hot, the chilli flakes will burn.

You will find recipes for Smashed Cucumber Salad with other non-traditional ingredients like feta cheese, edamame, meat like beef or chicken, chickpeas, avocado, etc. It’s all about personal preference but I feel this basic only cucumber version is really the best.