Thai Cucumber Salad

Great salad with "some" spicy heat, but only as much as you'd like. I use English cucumbers. These are the long, slender cucumbers, often marketed in the U.S. as "seedless cucumbers," although I have seen signs in markets saying, "English cucumbers," or "English cukes." They often come in plastic wrap. If the cucumber says, "Parlez vous français," just say, "Hey, you're not fooling me, you're no English cucumber!" If for some reason you can't find these, use regular cucumbers, split them lengthwise, scrape out the large seeds with a spoon, then slice the cucumbers. The skin can be pretty thick on some regular cucumbers, and it is often coated with wax to preserve them and to make them shiny, so it may be better to peel them, or partially peel them (after washing them well), so that you'll have stripes of dark green and very light green. As for the chili pepper, if you're not fond of much "heat," use just a 1/4 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper, instead of the fresh chili. Or, if you don't mind the heat of black or white pepper, add up to one teaspoon of either. At least "some" spicy heat is a part of what makes it "Thai," but you don't have to scorch your mouth, either.

Ingredients:

2 English cucumbers, cut lengthwise, then sliced fairly thin (peeled or unpeeled)
1 to 2 tablespoons salt
1/4 cup finely chopped onion (red or white)
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
3 tablespoons sweet Thai chili sauce (readily available in supermarkets and not very expensive)
1 or 2 jalapeno or serrano chili peppers, seeded and finely chopped (I don't seed mine, but I like heat)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
peanuts, coarsely chopped, then roasted briefly in a skillet (no oil)

Spread the cucumber slices out on a large platter, sprinkle the salt over them and let them drain 30 to 45 minutes, rinse in cold water, pat dry. Mix the vinegar, fish sauce, chili sauce and sugar well, making sure to dissolve the sugar. Add the onion, cucumber, cilantro and chili pepper and toss well to coat the mixture. Top with the briefly roasted chopped peanuts.

WORD HISTORY:
Cucumber-The origins of this word are unknown, but from what I've read over the years, it is thought to have been from some non-Indo European language of the eastern Mediterranean region. What is known is, the word goes back to Latin "cucumis," one of the case forms (ablative) of which was "cucumere." English borrowed the word from Latin as "cucumer" around 1400, although it was already present somewhat earlier, but not commonly used, as English had its own term "earth apple" (then spelled as the compound, "eorþæppel"). French had their forms of the Latin word (French is a Latin-based language) as "coucombre" and "cocombre," which then influenced the spelling and pronunciation in English later on. (Modern French has "concombre.")