SMASHED CUCUMBER SALAD

A smashed cucumber salad is a crunchy, refreshing dish made by lightly crushing cucumbers to bruise them and create irregular, flat pieces that soak up a tangy dressing, typically a mix of garlic, vinegar or rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil and chilli, and it's often finished with toasted sesame seeds and herbs. It originates from Sichuan province in China, where the technique of smashing rather than slicing helps the cucumber absorb bold, spicy flavours while keeping a pleasing texture that contrasts with the numbing heat of Sichuan peppercorns.

I have obviously turned it Greek as I normally do with recipes, changing the ingredients with feta, dill and a super punchy dijon vinaigrette. I love smashed cucumber, having all those random divets, becoming the perfect holder for the dressing and other ingredients to meld into. Plus it helps bang the everyday stress out of you.

SMASHED CUCUMBER SALAD

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SMASHED CUCUMBER SALAD 〰️

Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 2-3

3 lebanese cucumber

50gm feta

10gm fresh dill (just the fronds)

1/2 red onion

Cr. Black pepper, to taste

2 tbl sp toasted sesame seeds

Dressing

1 lime, juice

1 table spoon dijon

2 table spoons EVOO

Sea salt, to taste

To create dressing start with dijon in a jar. Cover with lime juice and then add another layer of EVOO on top of that. Shake hard and then season with salt and adjust the lime and oil to get it perfect.

Begin by smashing the cucumbers. Cut them into weird triangular shapes, some big and some small to give variation. Lay seed side down on chopping board and smash them in with something heavy (like the back of a knife, I used a pestle from my mortle and pestle). You want to break down the cucumber to create these little crevices and cracks to all the such to penetrate. In doing so you should lose most of your water liquid and seeds.

In bowl add in crumbled feta, finely chopped dill, finely diced red onion, a few cracks of black pepper and your dressing. Mix salad and then top with toasted sesame seeds.