RECIPE: CUCUMBER IN SPICY SOY SAUCE AND SESAME OIL SALAD

This is one of our favourite salads to accompany our meals when I cook Malaysian style dishes. It’s a change from sliced cucumber and salad and ideal should you get ‘stuck’ with a bitter or slightly mature cucumber. You may omit the chillies if you like but in my opinion, this gives the cucumber the ‘oomph’ factor. Here’s the recipe.


Ingredients

Cucumber/s
Shallots or Small red onion
Chillies – red bird’s eye chillies or cayenne is my medium of choice (around 4 for each medium sized cucumber – more if you want it spicer)
Light (Chinese style) soy sauce
Few drops Oriental style sesame oil
Spring onion – sliced fine (optional)


Method

Prepare (see my post on HOW TO REMOVE BITTERNESS IN CUCUMBERS), peel and slice the cucumber/s into half. Using a teaspoon, remove the seeds/fleshy part of the cucumber/s.

Slice the cucumber/s into half again and cut into thick pieces. Place in a small glass/ceramic serving dish. Slice you shallots (if using red onion, quarter it and slice) and chillies. Place with the cucumber. Top with sufficient soy sauce to half way cover the cucumber. Add a few drops of sesame well. Top with spring onions if desired. Toss well and refrigerate until desired. Give it a couple of stirs before serving to ensure that all the cucumber have been covered with the sauce. Use as an accompaniment to curries or spicy dishes.

NB: Do not use too large a bowl for this dish as this would mean having to use lots of soy sauce - what a waste. You may reuse the sauce, for up to three days, to make new batches of this salad.