Chinese Cucumber Salad
Chinese Cucumber Salad
This Chinese cucumber salad is a little different than your average cuc salad. Instead of straight up slinging the cucumbers, they are slightly smashed first. This allows them to catch more of the dressing. Lots of minced garlic is added to the cucumbers. The dressing is a simple soy/black vinegar/sugar/chili oil/sesame oil base. Pour the dressing over the cucumbers right before serving. Do not pour the dressing on in advance. The salt from the dressing will extract the moisture from the cucumbers, making your salad watery. Needless to say, this salad is not a good leftover.
Ingredients
- 12 oz English or Persian cucumbers
- 6 garlic cloves minced
Dressing
- 1 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp chili oil
Instructions
- Very lightly smash the cucumbers with a mallet.
- Slice into 1/2” pieces.
- Add the minced garlic to the cucumbers in a bowl.
- Mix together the dressing ingredients.
- Add the dressing to the cucumbers right before serving.
How to make Chili Oil in an Instant Pot
Ever eat at a Chinese restaurant and they have that chili oil at the table? Then you end up putting it on everything because it’s so damn good. Well now it’s time to learn how to make it for a fraction of the price of the store bought brands. Making this couldn’t be easier using the Instant Pot. The most important thing in making this chili oil is to not burn the ingredients. You want to keep the oil between 225 and 250 degrees. The Instant Pot has a custom temperature setting which makes making this street free. You can still make this on a stove top if you don’t have an Instant Pot. Just make sure to use a cane thermometer to make sure the oil doesn’t get too hot. If the ingredients burn, you will have to start over.Most cultures have some sort of chili oil in their cuisine, all made very similarly. This recipe is for a Chinese style chili oil, so I used ingredients in Chinese cooking. If you were to make a chili oil for Italian cuisine, you would you’d Italian crushed chili flakes and maybe some garlic and dried herbs in the oil. So experiment with making different oils. The chili flake is always the main ingredient, followed by aromatics steeping in the oil.
Ingredients
- 2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 large cinnamon stick
- 5 star anise
- 3 tbsp Szechuan peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup crushed Szechuan chili flakes
Instructions
- Set your Instant Pot to the sauté function. Choose custom temp. Set to 230 degrees, Add your oil, cinnamon stick, star anise, peppercorns, and bay leaves to the Instant Pot. Cook for 30 minutes, giving an occasional stir. Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Put the crushed chili flakes in a mason jar. Take a small piece of cheese cloth and put it over the jar, with a rubber band around it to hold in place.
- Take out the cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Pour the oil into the mason jar. The cheese cloth will catch all of the peppercorns and star anise..
- Screw on the cover and let cool to room temp. Refrigerate up to 6 months.
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