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Smashed Cucumber Salad
Smashing the cucumbers helped release their seeds and created rough surfaces for the dressing to cling to. For a simple variation on this recipe, add ¼ cup creamy peanut butter and 2 tablespoons water with the soy sauce and sesame oil to smooth the dressing. In China, this salad is eaten with chopsticks so the dressing drips off the pieces of cucumber; to avoid an oily salad, use a slotted spoon to dole out portions.
6
Servings
Tip
Don’t substitute American cucumbers for English. The ratio of seeds to flesh is higher and the skins are too tough.
40 minutes
15 minutes active
Ingredients
-
2
pounds English cucumbers (about 2 large)
-
4
teaspoons white sugar
Directions
-
01Trim the ends off the cucumbers, then halve lengthwise. Place each half cut side down, then press a rolling pin or the flat side of a broad knife against the cucumber and hit firmly with the heel of your hand. Repeat along the length of the cucumbers until they crack.
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January 24, 2023
How much
How much chili oil is half as much? Not listed in ingredients so I added by feel. Making half of this recipe was a challenge. I saved the juice for another batch of cucs.
August 20, 2022
Great flavors and easy to make
This recipe is very easy. It had full of flavor and a refreshing side dish to a lot of meals. Next time though, I would cut back a little on the soy sauce.
Hi Marshall -
The recipe is referring to the 5 teaspoons of the sugar (4 teaspoons) and salt (1 1/2 teaspoons) mixture that gets mixed together in a small bowl at the beginning of Step 3. The vinegar and garlic gets stirred into the remaining mixture. Hope that helps!
Best,
The Milk Street Team
Absolutely delicious! I made this for a small dinner party and everyone loved it! I added a little less than 1 TBSP of the optional peanut butter and it had a nice nutty taste and texture. I also used some leftover dressing on a green salad with grilled chicken the next day and it worked incredibly well. This is going into my regular rotation.
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How much kosher salt do I combine with the sugar? As of 2/28/21 there’s no amount given. Thanks!