Chinese Smashed Cucumbers With Sesame Oil and Garlic
Updated August 4, 2024
Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Simon Andrews.
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
About 2 pounds thin-skinned cucumbers like English or Persian (8 to 10 mini cucumbers, 4 medium-size or 2 large greenhouse)
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for cucumbers
2 teaspoons granulated sugar, plus more for cucumbers
1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon grapeseed or extra-virgin olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced or put through a press
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Small handful whole cilantro leaves, for garnish
2 teaspoons toasted white sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Rinse cucumbers and pat dry. Cut crosswise into pieces about 4 inches long. Cut each piece in half lengthwise.
- Step 2
On a work surface, place a piece of cucumber (or several) cut side down. Lay the blade of a large knife flat on top the cucumber and smash down lightly with your other hand. The skin will begin to crack, the flesh will break down and the seeds will separate. Repeat until the whole piece is smashed. Break or slice diagonally into bite-size pieces, leaving the seeds behind.
- Step 3
Place the cucumber pieces in a strainer and toss with a big pinch of salt and a big pinch of sugar. Place a plastic bag filled with ice on top of the cucumbers to serve as a weight and place the strainer over a bowl. Let drain 15 to 30 minutes on the counter, or in the refrigerator until ready to serve, up to 4 hours.
- Step 4
Make the dressing: In a small bowl, combine salt, sugar and rice vinegar. Stir until salt and sugar are dissolved. Stir in sesame oil and soy sauce.
- Step 5
When ready to serve, shake cucumbers well to drain off any remaining liquid and transfer to a serving bowl. Drizzle with grapeseed or olive oil and toss. Add half the dressing, half the garlic and the red pepper flakes to taste, and toss. Keep adding dressing until cucumbers are well coated but not drowned. Taste and add more pepper flakes and garlic if needed. Serve immediately, garnished with cilantro and sesame seeds.
Private Notes
Comments
If you save the drained cucumber water from the strainer you can make a very refreshing cucumber-gin martini to precede your cucumber salad.
a shortcut and easier way to do the cucumbers: scoop out the seeds first. Then lightly smash. But instead of salting them to remove the water, do this: spread the pieces on a plate and put them in the refrigerator uncovered for 30 minutes or more. The dry air circulating in the fridge evaporates almost all the e moisture so you have dry cucumber pieces, no draining or remaining moisture to dilute your dressing.
I used to eat this regularly while living in Sichuan. A nice add: take some Sichuan peppercorns, roast them lightly until fragrant, then crush them and add to the sauce. These peppercorns have a slightly numbing effect until you get used to them so start small; once you get accustomed you'll notice it's a really smooth flavor.
Also, as others pointed out, don't use olive oil (much as I adore it). The oil used should be more neutral (and Asian!) to enhance the other flavors.
Why are smashed cucumbers a thing? I could only get them to crack lengthwise, and breaking them into pieces was too tedious. And they were slightly mushy after getting smashed.
Just saw this recipe and tried it. Had it with dinner and thought it was “OK” - the skins of the cukes were sort of unpleasant. However, the next morning, on a whim, I substituted the remainder of the cucumbers (after draining off the excess dressing) for the fruit in my standard yogurt/fruit breakfast and the salad was FANTASTIC drowned in yogurt!
Didn’t have rice vinegar at our vacation rental, so used a ponzu soy dressing I found in the pantry instead with some fresh lime juice (and the recipe’s sesame oil, of course). Not exactly what the recipe called for but still delish!