Chinese Smashed Cucumber Salad with Garlic, Chili Oil and Toasted Sesame

Trim the cucumbers and lay them on a board. Press down firmly with the flat of a broad knife or a rolling pin until each one cracks open along its length.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds farmers-market Persian or Kirby cucumbers (about 6)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons Chinkiang black vinegar
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 to 2 tablespoons chili crisp or chili oil, to taste
• 1 tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• Small handful of cilantro leaves

Instructions

1. Trim the cucumbers and lay them on a board. Press down firmly with the flat of a broad knife or a rolling pin until each one cracks open along its length.
2. Tear or cut the cracked cucumbers into rough bite-size pieces. The jagged edges are the entire reason for smashing rather than slicing — dressing clings to a torn surface in a way it never does to a clean cut.
3. Toss the pieces with the salt in a colander set over a bowl and leave for 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile whisk together the garlic, black vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar until the sugar dissolves.
5. Shake the cucumbers well and pat them dry — discard the liquid that has drained off. Skipping this step leaves you with a watery salad within minutes of serving.
6. Toss the drained cucumbers with the dressing and let them sit 5 minutes to take on flavour.
7. Just before serving, spoon over the chili crisp, then scatter with sesame seeds, scallions and cilantro. Serve cold, in a shallow dish, with plenty of the dressing pooled underneath.
8. Pai huang gua is street food, banquet starter and home refrigerator staple all at once across China, and it arrives at the table before anything hot does. The smashing technique is genuinely old — it appears in cooking texts centuries before chili crisp existed — and works because a cucumber's flesh is structured in loose bundles that separate rather than shear. Make it in the hour before you eat, never the morning of.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 110 kcal
• Protein: 3g
• Fat: 8g
• Carbohydrates: 9g
• Fiber: 2g
• Sugar: 5g
• Sodium: 740mg