Smashed Asian Cucumber Salad Recipe From 'Woks of Life'
Every week, we’re spotlighting a different food blogger who’s shaking up the blogosphere with tempting recipes and knockout photography. Below, Judy Leung of The Woks of Life gives the phrase “cool as a cucumber” new meaning with this chilled summer salad.
Photo courtesy of Woks of Life
This smashed Asian cucumber salad recipe is light, refreshing, and perfect for the summer. It’s also packed with flavor from a zingy dressing, garlic, and cilantro, plus it only takes 10 minutes to make.
In our family, I’m the resident whacky Chinese medicine enthusiast — I drink the elixirs, read the most books about it, and enjoy the healing powers of a good Chinese foot massage. So I’ll start this recipe by saying, everyone knows that cucumber salad is a great summer dish, but do you know about its health benefits?
According to TCM (traditional Chinese medicine), cucumber cleanses and detoxifies, it helps reduce high blood pressure, and, with its “cooling” element, also reduces the internal temperature of the body. In short, eat plenty of cucumber this summer!
In the U.S., cucumbers pop up in the odd tabbouleh salad, a dill pickle here and there, and perhaps a pitcher of cucumber water, but people in China take eating cucumbers to a whole new level. For example, we Americans would probably enjoy an ice cream cone (or gnaw on a turkey leg if you’re at Disney World) when visiting a park or a zoo. But in China, you people crunch on mini cucumbers as they walk around, ride on the train, or take a rest on the Great Wall. It’s an everywhere, anytime snack. Fruit peddlers peel them for you and they’re only RMB 1.00 (16 cents) a piece. A bargain!
Smashed Asian Cucumber Salad
Serves 4
2 long, preferably seedless cucumbers (about 1 to 1 ½ pounds)
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
3 teaspoons light soy sauce
1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
2-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1-2 teaspoons chili oil (optional, see note belowl)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
Small handful of chopped cilantro
Wash the cucumbers and pat them dry with a clean towel. Make the salad dressing by combining the salt, sugar, sesame oil, light soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Stir until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Set aside.
On a cutting board, lay a large knife flat against the cucumber, and smash it lightly with your other hand. The cucumber should crack open and smash into four sections. Repeat along its full length. Once the whole cucumber is completely open (usually into 4 long sectional pieces), cut it at a 45-degree angle into bite-sized pieces.
In a large bowl, mix the cut cucumber with the prepared dressing, garlic and chili oil (or cooked plain oil), and toss it well. Serve, garnished with sesame seeds and cilantro.
Note: If you prefer to omit the chili oil, heat up a tablespoon of oil in a pan and drizzle it over the cucumber. Seems weird, but in Chinese cooking, uncooked vs. cooked oil have different flavors and are treated as such!
More simple salads:
Smoky Corn Farina with Tomato Salad from ‘The New Mediterranean Table’
Warm Salad of Roasted Kale, Coconut, and Tomatoes from ‘A Modern Way To Eat’
Peach Caprese Salad and Balsamic Reduction
Have a favorite salad? Tell us about it below!
