Chinese Cucumber Salad
This dish is also at times called, "(Chinese) Smashed Cucumber Salad." Like most popular dishes, the recipe for this cucumber salad can vary a little.
Ingredients:
2 English (aka seedless) cucumbers
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 to 1 teaspoon fresh hot red chili pepper, finely chopped*
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon salt
Wash the cucumbers very well and dry them. Cut the ends from the cucumbers and then very loosely wrap the cucumbers in plastic wrap, but do not peel them. Use a kitchen mallet or a heavy skillet and hit the cucumbers until they are split (now you see why the salad is often called "smashed cucumber salad"). Remove the cucumbers and slice them lengthwise a couple of times, then cut those long pieces into pieces of about 1/2 inch or so. Put the pieces into a strainer and add the salt and sugar. Put the strainer over a bowl and let the cucumbers drain for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, mix the other ingredients together well. Add the drained cucumber pieces to the mixture and stir well, making sure all of the cucumber pieces are coated. You can serve the salad immediately or refrigerate it for about an hour.
* Instead of fresh chili pepper, you can also use chili pepper flakes or sambol oelek chili sauce (Sambal Oelek is an Indonesian chunky hot chili pepper sauce. It should be easily found in the Asian section, or in the hot sauce section, of supermarkets). If you don't like any heat, just use some red or yellow bell pepper.
WORD HISTORY:
China-This word's history is a bit uncertain, although it "seems" to go back to the "Qin" dynasty, which ruled in China during and around 220 B.C., although the word "might" predate that time. This then was taken by Sanskrit as "cinah," and "cinas," as the name for the people of the area of China; thus, this would also be the direct ancient source of "Chinese" in English and other European languages. This "likely" became part of Hindi, as transliterated "cin" (long "i"), and this was picked up by the Portuguese as "China," as they explored, traded and set up outposts in the Indian subcontinent. The Portuguese took the word back to Europe, where it was taken by English in the first half of the 1500s. The 1600s saw the term "china" used for porcelain dishware in English, as these were originally brought in from China.
Ingredients:
2 English (aka seedless) cucumbers
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 to 1 teaspoon fresh hot red chili pepper, finely chopped*
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon salt
Wash the cucumbers very well and dry them. Cut the ends from the cucumbers and then very loosely wrap the cucumbers in plastic wrap, but do not peel them. Use a kitchen mallet or a heavy skillet and hit the cucumbers until they are split (now you see why the salad is often called "smashed cucumber salad"). Remove the cucumbers and slice them lengthwise a couple of times, then cut those long pieces into pieces of about 1/2 inch or so. Put the pieces into a strainer and add the salt and sugar. Put the strainer over a bowl and let the cucumbers drain for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, mix the other ingredients together well. Add the drained cucumber pieces to the mixture and stir well, making sure all of the cucumber pieces are coated. You can serve the salad immediately or refrigerate it for about an hour.
* Instead of fresh chili pepper, you can also use chili pepper flakes or sambol oelek chili sauce (Sambal Oelek is an Indonesian chunky hot chili pepper sauce. It should be easily found in the Asian section, or in the hot sauce section, of supermarkets). If you don't like any heat, just use some red or yellow bell pepper.
China-This word's history is a bit uncertain, although it "seems" to go back to the "Qin" dynasty, which ruled in China during and around 220 B.C., although the word "might" predate that time. This then was taken by Sanskrit as "cinah," and "cinas," as the name for the people of the area of China; thus, this would also be the direct ancient source of "Chinese" in English and other European languages. This "likely" became part of Hindi, as transliterated "cin" (long "i"), and this was picked up by the Portuguese as "China," as they explored, traded and set up outposts in the Indian subcontinent. The Portuguese took the word back to Europe, where it was taken by English in the first half of the 1500s. The 1600s saw the term "china" used for porcelain dishware in English, as these were originally brought in from China.
Labels: chilies, Chinese Cucumber Salad, Chinese recipes, cucumbers, English, etymology, Hindi, Portuguese, recipes, salads, Sanskrit, smashed cucumber salad, spicy food
posted by Randy at 4:13 PM
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