I first fell in love with this smashed cucumber salad at ShanDong MaMa an eatery in Melbourne, famous for its dumplings and home-style, Northern Chinese cuisine. The first time I ate this salad I went home and googled recipes for smashed cucumber salad, because I absolutely had to recreate it at home. There were a tonne of recipes on the internet, because even though I never heard of smashing cucumbers, it is a common technique across Asia for making cucumber salads.
This Woks of Life version, like ShanDong MaMa uses loads of raw garlic which, personally I love, but, if you don’t – you can dial it down or even leave it out. You can play around different dressings, I love this mirin and sesame dressing which I’ve made for years, it a milder more subtle flavored dressing than this. I’ve even seen a recipe for smashed cucumber salad with a Mediterranean dressing and feta cheese. This salad is best eaten immediately after making, so I usually halve this recipe when I’m just making a family meal. This is a great side to any Asian style rice based meal. It’s refreshing in summer but I also crave it in the winter when I’m feeling deprived of juicy, crunchy food. The copious amounts of raw garlic also helps fend off winter colds.
Smashed Asian Cucumber Salad
Adapted from Woks of Life
- 2 continental cucumbers (about 450 to 600g – 1 to 1/2 lbs)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons of sugar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 3 teaspoons white soy sauce (sub 2 teaspoons of normal soy sauce)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of rice vinegar or Chinese black vinegar (Chinkiang vinegar)
- 2-4 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)
- 1-2 teaspoons chili oil (optional)
- A handful of chopped coriander (optional)
- 2 teaspoons of toasted sesame seeds
- First make the dressing. Mix together salt, sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic and chilli oil. Mix well until salt and sugar dissolves and set aside.
- Wash and dry cucumbers. Using the flat of a very heavy knife or a meat mallet hit along the cucumber until it smashes into sections. I use the pestle from my mortar and pestle which is the only thing I have heavy enough to smash the cucumber without having pieces of cucumber flying off every where.
- Cut cucumber into length way strips then cut into bite size pieces on the diagonal. Toss together cucumber and coriander in a bowl then mix through dressing. Garnish with sesame seeds to serve.
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