Cucumber salad is a popular dish on Chinese dinner tables. No matter if you want to add a crisp appetizer to accompany a bowl of hot noodle soup, to balance out a pot of hearty braised pork belly, or have something green to serve with grilled meat, this spicy cucumber salad is a perfect choice. I’ve shared this classic northern Chinese style cucumber salad in the past. In this recipe, I want to share a fancy way to cut and prepare cucumber for the best texture.
Spicy cucumber salad ingredients
What type of cucumber to use
Mini cucumbers and persian cucumbers are the best type for this recipe. You can use English cucumbers as well, although their size is quite big for this cutting method. If you’re near a Chinese market, you can also use Chinese cucumbers (one of my favorites). I do not recommend using American cucumbers because they’re quite thick and watery.
Chili oil
Since chili oil is a key ingredient in spicy cucumber salad, I recommend either making it at home or using a jar from a good brand. Making chili oil is quite easy and I have a recipe showing you how to do it in your own kitchen. If you prefer to buy chili oil, I recommend the one from The Mala Market, or the classic Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp.
Mise en place
You only need 7 ingredients to make this delicious dish!
Cucumber Rice vinegar Soy sauce Garlic Sugar Chili oil Sesame seeds
How to make spicy cucumber salad
Here I want to show you how to make spiral cucumber cuts so you can create a beautiful looking dish like a Chinese restaurant.
Create crunchy cucumber
In this recipe I salted the cucumber and let it marinate for 10 to 15 minutes. During this time, the cucumber will release moisture and become slightly crunchier. The cucumber will also have a better flavor this way. It’s important to keep the marinating time short, and rinse off the salt once the marinating is done. So the cucumber won’t taste too salty.
How to serve and store spicy cucumber salad
Spicy cucumber salad is a great side dish to accompany almost any type of Chinese main dish. You can also serve it as an appetizer for your Chinese BBQ party. Spicy cucumber salad tastes the best if you make it and serve it as soon as possible. That being said, you can make it ahead and bring it to a party without any issue. You can make the salad the same day and serve it later. If you plan to make it ahead and serve the next day, I recommend mixing the cucumber with the dressing right before you serve it. Once salted, the cucumber will keep releasing moisture and dilute the dressing.
Other delicious appetizer and side dishes
Soy Sauce Fried Rice (酱油炒饭) Choy Sum with Garlic Sauce (白灼菜心) Shanghai Scallion Oil Noodle (葱油拌面) Chinese Zucchini Pancakes (糊塌子) Watercress Stir Fry (炒西洋菜)
