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.
Why you are cooking this tonight
The first time I made smashed cucumbers I used a rolling pin, which is the kind of decision that explains why the kitchen looked like a botanical crime scene and my partner walked through, paused, said “what happened in here,” and walked out again without waiting for an answer. Use the flat of a chef’s knife. The cucumber needs to be cracked, not pulped. The point is rough edges that drink up the dressing the way a Coopers Pale absorbs a Friday afternoon.
Sichuan in origin, Melbourne dumpling shops in execution. Lebanese cucumbers from Harris Farm, smashed and salted for ten minutes so they cry out the water you do not want. Then dressed with light soy, Chinkiang vinegar, sesame oil, a generous spoon of Lao Gan Ma chilli crisp, and a little garlic crushed with the same knife you used to abuse the cucumbers. Fifteen minutes, no cooking, mandatory next to a roast duck, fried chicken, a charred ribeye, or a bowl of dan dan noodles. The salad that pretends it’s a side and quietly steals the meal.
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
Ingredients
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
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
Sichuan
Add a teaspoon of Sichuan peppercorns toasted in the oil. Numbing-tingly heat that makes the dish.
Ginger and miso
Whisk a teaspoon of white miso into the dressing, add finely grated ginger. Less sharp, more rounded.
With shredded chicken
Top 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.
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