Asian Cucumber Salad

This is, without a doubt, my most requested recipe. It is so great that I posted it when I first started this blog. When all my posts were filled with photos that look like a 2-year-old took them. When there were more typos than actual real words. When most of you were still blissfully unaware that there was a Jewish girl obsessed with pork products writing a blog.

Long story short, none of you got to see this recipe.

It is vegetarian, it is cheap, and it is so addictive that I defy you not to make it at least 3 times in the next month.

Asian Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

1 cucumber, sliced into rounds

2 scallions, chopped

1 handful cilantro, cleaned and chopped

2 tsp. pickled ginger, minced

1 serrano chile diced OR 1 tsp. sambal olek (or to taste)

1 bell pepper chopped and/or 1 tomato chopped

1/8 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

sesame oil to taste(at least 1 tsp.)

sugar to taste (at least 1 tsp.)

1. Mix up all the ingredients, and then let the salad marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to 90 minutes.

2. Taste for seasonings and serve.

It really is that simple. It is also really, really good. The cucumbers pick up all of the sweet, sour, salty, and hot flavors of the marinade. It is light but the taste fires on all cylinders. The amount of heat is entirely up to you, but I really like a bit of kick here – don’t be afraid to feel your lips tingle. The rice wine vinegar is acidic without being overpowering, and the bit of sesame oil gives the dish a hearty, fatty component. Bell pepper is my favorite secondary vegetable, but tomatoes or soybeans also work well. This is fantastic next to grilled fish, slow braised meat, or even with rice and an egg over easy. It can be served immediately or made the night before, for a slightly softer, more pickled taste to the cucumbers. If you make it the night before, be prepared to drain a lot of excess liquid from the dressing. Now you see why I had to repost this.  This recipe is just so ideal that it bore repeating from my earlier blog days.

Luckily for you, my posts are still full of typos, so you get the full effect of the original post.