Name: Smashed Cucumber Salad
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 4 Lebanese cucumbers; 1 tsp sea salt flakes; 3 cloves garlic, finely grated; 2 tbsp light soy sauce; 1 tbsp black vinegar (or rice vinegar); 2 tsp sesame oil; 1 tsp caster sugar; 1-2 tbsp chilli crisp (to taste); 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds; 1 small bunch coriander, roughly chopped; 2 spring onions, finely sliced

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Why you are cooking this tonight

The smashed cucumber salad is a crunchy, salty, sharp, chilli-hot side from Sichuan that every Melbourne and Sydney dumpling shop has made famous in Australia. You smash the cucumbers with the flat of a knife so the rough edges drink up the dressing. Soy, vinegar, sesame oil, chilli crisp. Ready in fifteen minutes. Mandatory next to roast duck, fried chicken, a steak, a plate of noodles, or just eaten with chopsticks from the bowl on a hot afternoon.

Use Lebanese or Japanese cucumbers – they have less water and more flavour than the big Aussie continental cucumbers. Salt them, drain them, then dress. The water they shed makes all the difference between crisp and soggy.

Notes on method

Chilli crisp (Lao Gan Ma is the classic, Fly By Jing the posh option) is non-negotiable. Toast your own sesame seeds for a minute – the smell tells you when they are done.

What to pour with it

With roast duck, a cold Clare riesling. With fried chicken, a cold beer. With a Moscow Mule, the best afternoon snack you’ll have all summer.

The recipe

Smashed Cucumber Salad

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Prep Time 15

Total Time 10

Servings: 4

Cuisine: Asian, Chinese

Calories: 220

Ingredients Method Nutrition

Ingredients

Salad

4 Lebanese cucumbers
1 tsp sea salt flakes
3 cloves garlic, finely grated
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp black vinegar (or rice vinegar)
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp caster sugar
1-2 tbsp chilli crisp (to taste)
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 small bunch coriander, roughly chopped
2 spring onions, finely sliced

Method

Lay cucumbers on a board. Smash with the flat of a large knife or a rolling pin until they crack and split lengthways. Tear or chop into rough 3cm pieces.
Put in a colander, toss with sea salt flakes. Leave 10 minutes to drain.
Whisk together garlic, soy, vinegar, sesame oil, and sugar.
Squeeze excess water from the cucumbers, transfer to a bowl. Pour over dressing. Toss.
Spoon onto a shallow plate. Drizzle chilli crisp, scatter sesame seeds, coriander and spring onions. Serve immediately.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 220kcal

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Two things that go wrong

You didn’t salt and drain the cucumbers.

Cucumbers are 95% water. Skip the salting step and the dressing slides off into a watery puddle. Salt, sit for 10 minutes, squeeze the liquid out hard. Then dress.

You sliced instead of smashed.

Clean knife cuts give the dressing nothing to grip. The whole point of smashing is the rough, jagged edges that soak up soy and chilli oil. Use the flat of a knife or a rolling pin and don’t be shy.

Variations worth knowing

SichuanAdd a teaspoon of Sichuan peppercorns toasted in the oil. Numbing-tingly heat that makes the dish.
Ginger and misoWhisk a teaspoon of white miso into the dressing, add finely grated ginger. Less sharp, more rounded.
With shredded chickenTop with poached or rotisserie chicken shreds and turn the side into a light main.

Leftovers and make ahead

Doesn’t keep — the cucumber loses crunch overnight. Make to order. The dressing keeps a week in a jar in the fridge and is brilliant on cold noodles, dumplings, or as a dip for steamed buns.