Smashed Cucumbers

Smashed cucumbers are probably one of the most popular Chinese dishes. You can find them in any Chinese restaurant and sometimes even in establishments with Thai or Vietnamese cuisine.

Smashed cucumbers are popular for their freshness, brightness, and richness because (as it often happens with Asian cuisine) they combine all the basic tastes: salty (from the salt and soy sauce), sweet (sugar), sour (vinegar), bitter and hot (chili) and umami (soy sauce again).

However, it’s not just the contrasts of taste that stick with you and make you want more. They’re supposed to be served cold, right out of the fridge. So, when you eat them with a hot main course, you really feel the contrast of temperatures. This has a great effect on the taste buds!

Therefore, it is advisable to use cucumbers straight from the fridge for the dish and to put them back into the fridge for an extra 15 minutes before serving. However, if you don’t have an extra 15 minutes to spare, just skip this step – it’s not critical. To serve, transfer the cucumbers to a serving plate, pour half the dressing over them and stir. Pour more dressing over so that the cucumbers are covered with it, but at the same time not floating in it, and serve right away.

I tried to choose the proportions of ingredients to help you remember their amounts as easily as possible. 

Here goes: you will need only 2 each of everything, except for the chili (but that’s up to you). Cucumbers and garlic are needed by default. Cucumbers because we’re making chopped cucumbers and garlic because it’s a Chinese dish so how can we do without it?

Next, we combine 5 main flavors in the sauce: bitter, sweet, sour, salty, and umami, so we need: chili, sugar, vinegar, salt, and soy sauce.

The instructions on how to combine it all are below. 😉

Ingredients

• 2 large cucumbers (or 3-4 medium)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• 2 tsp. soy sauce
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 hot chili
• pinch of salt
• A few coriander leaves for decoration (optional)
• Sesame (optional)

Instructions

Step 1.

Wash the cucumbers and place them on a flat, clean surface. Smash them with the bottom of a heavy pan. Alternatively, put the flat blade of a cleaver on top and pound it several times with your fist, going all the way around the cucumber.

Step 2.

Cut the cucumber lengthwise and cut into slices that are between 1 and 2 cm wide.

Step 3.

Transfer the sliced cucumbers to a sieve. Place the sieve in a bowl where the juice will drain into. Salt the cucumber with a good pinch of salt, stir and place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Step 4.

Meanwhile, prepare the dressing. Mix the rice vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the finely chopped garlic and the sesame oil. Leave to infuse.

Step 5.

After 15 minutes, transfer the cucumbers to a serving plate, pour half of the dressing over them, and stir. Pour more dressing over so the cucumbers are covered with it, but not floating in it. Serve immediately.