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Smashed Cucumbers with Garlic and Black Vinegar

By NicklausWritten

A cold cucumber salad with cracked edges, garlic, black vinegar and toasted sesame, plus a short refrigerated rest that keeps the dressing from turning watery.

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Recipe

Total time
About 35 minutes
Method
No-cook
Difficulty
Easy
Allergens
Soy · Wheat may be present in soy sauce · Sesame

About 4 side servings

Allow roughly 35 minutes, including a 20-minute refrigerated rest. Dress the cucumbers shortly before serving. Contains soy and sesame; check vinegar and soy-sauce labels for wheat.

Equipment: Cutting board, rolling pin, knife, colander set over a bowl, refrigerator-safe cover, small bowl and serving bowl.

Ingredients

  • 500 g thin-skinned Persian or English cucumbers
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
  • 2 small garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar, such as Chinkiang-style vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons Chinese light soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Method

  1. Crack, then cut

    Scrub the cucumbers under running water and dry them. Trim the ends. On a stable board, press and tap gently with a rolling pin until the cucumbers split lengthwise. Stop before they become pulp. Cut the cracked lengths into bite-size chunks, about 3 cm across.

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  2. Salt the pieces

    Toss the cucumber with the fine salt. Set the colander over a bowl, add the cucumber and cover. Place it in the refrigerator at 40°F (4°C) or below.

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  3. Let the cucumber drain

    Leave the covered cucumber in the refrigerator for 20 minutes so released water can collect underneath.

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  4. Stir the dressing

    Mix the garlic, black vinegar, light soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar in the small bowl until the sugar dissolves. Discard the collected cucumber liquid, then shake excess moisture from the colander gently; do not squeeze the cucumber into a soft mass.

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  5. Toss and serve cold

    Toss the drained cucumber with the dressing and sesame seeds. Taste a piece before adding any extra salt. Serve promptly, lifting the pieces out of excess dressing if liquid pools in the bowl. Keep any portion you are not serving refrigerated.

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Watercolor illustration of cracked skin-on cucumber chunks with minced garlic and sesame seeds in a shallow cream bowl.
Garlic, sesame and black vinegar over cracked cucumber pieces. Serving illustration.

A neat cucumber coin lets dressing slide past. A cracked piece catches it. That is the appeal of this salad: cool, irregular chunks with sharp vinegar in the crevices and a little garlic in each bite. It is especially welcome beside something hot from a pan.

This version draws on the smashing technique in Judy Leung's cucumber salad, the salt-and-drain approach in Nagi Maehashi's recipe, and the black-vinegar dressing in Jeannette's version at Wok and Kin. Here the dressing leaves out chili oil and keeps garlic, vinegar and toasted sesame in the foreground.

The cucumber should still have a bite

Choose firm, thin-skinned cucumbers. Persian cucumbers are convenient; a long English cucumber works too. Very large, thick-skinned cucumbers with a loose seed cavity need more trimming and give a different proportion of crisp flesh to watery center.

Smashing does not mean flattening. Once the cucumber cracks open, a knife can finish the job. The pieces need enough body to lift with chopsticks or a fork. If the board is covered in cucumber pulp, the next one needs a lighter hand.

Wash the cucumber before cutting it. FDA recommends running water and a clean produce brush for firm produce such as cucumbers; soap is not needed.

Taste a dressed piece, not a spoonful of dressing

Chinese black vinegar brings a darker, rounder flavor than plain rice vinegar. Look for Chinkiang or Zhenjiang-style black vinegar rather than assuming a bottle of balsamic will do the same job. The salad should taste lively, not sweet and syrupy.

The dressing alone will seem more forceful than a cucumber coated with it. Make seasoning decisions after tossing, especially when considering extra soy sauce. There is already salt on the vegetables. Use light soy sauce for seasoning; dark soy changes the color and is not the intended replacement here.

Bring the bowl to the table near the end of cooking dinner. A long wait in dressing gives the cucumber more opportunity to shed water. Beside pan-fried dumplings or curry udon, its job is simple: a cold, crisp mouthful between hot ones.

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