Chinese
Good Food Everyday
From
Good Food Everyday
season
1
episode
2
Cucumber Salad
With
Gary Mehigan
Smashed cucumber with black vinegar, sesame and chilli. A Sichuanese cold starter.
SERVES
4
About this recipe
Cucumber smashed open with the side of a knife so the dressing soaks in, tossed with Chinese black vinegar, salt-reduced soy, sesame oil and sambal oelek. Coriander and spring onion go through at the end; sesame seeds over the top. A Sichuanese starter built for cold beer and grilled meat.
The smashed cucumber technique (paigu huanggua) is Chinese restaurant cooking that lifts a plain cucumber salad into something with proper architecture. Smashing the cucumber with the flat of a heavy knife or a rolling pin breaks the cell walls and creates rough, irregular surfaces that take up far more dressing than smooth cut slices. The cucumber stays crunchy but tastes deeply seasoned.
Chinese black vinegar (Chinkiang) is the right vinegar. Aged like balsamic but darker, smokier and less sweet, the result of fermented sticky rice rather than grape must. White vinegar or rice vinegar throws the balance off entirely; the malty, nutty depth of the Chinkiang is what makes the dressing read as Sichuan rather than generic Asian.
Lebanese or telegraph cucumbers (the long, thin-skinned varieties with small seeds) are the right cucumber here; the thicker-skinned salad varieties don't smash as cleanly. Salt the cucumber for fifteen minutes after smashing to draw out the water (which would otherwise dilute the dressing), drain hard, then toss with the dressing. Sesame seeds toasted in a dry pan over the top. Eat within an hour; the cucumber starts to weep liquid after that.
Ingredients
- 1 clove Garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp Black Vinegar
- Pinch Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Ayam Salt reduced Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp Ayam Sambal oelek
- 1 tbs Ayam Sesame Oil
- 2 tbsp Sesame seeds
- 1 cup Coriander Leaves
- Bunch of Spring Onions chopped into small batons
- 2 Continental Cucumber
- 1 tbsp Chilli Oil (optional)
Method
1. In a bowl add the garlic, Chinese Black Vinegar and the Brown Sugar.
2. Then add the Ayam Sambal Oelek, Sesame Oil and Salt reduced Soy
3. Add Sesame seeds.
4. Cut the cucumber into chunks and using the Braun Multiquick slicing attachment, slice the cucumber.
5. Add the Cucumber, Coriander and chopped Spring Onions into the dressing and toss well.
6. Serve as a salad straight away or add to a Airtight container to take to work for lunch with steamed rice.
Gary Mehigan
Gary Mehigan spent eleven seasons as a judge on MasterChef Australia before turning his attention to the road. He hosts Around the World on Two Plates and Good Food Everyday, cooking through markets and family kitchens from Spain to Sri Lanka. His own kitchen instinct sits in classical French technique with a forensic eye for produce.
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