Crunchy Asian Cucumber Salad (2024)

FAQs

What is Asian cucumber salad made of? ›

Place cucumber slices in a colander and sprinkle with salt; set aside to drain for 1 hour. Whisk vinegar and sugar together until sugar is dissolved. Add sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and sesame seeds; stir. Rinse salt off cucumber slices by running under cold water; place in a large bowl with sliced red chile peppers.

First, unless you can find seedless cucumbers, you must eviscerate them. Cucumber seeds, slimy, springy and evasive, will ruin the texture of any salad, soup or dip. Then, you must salt them to draw out as much liquid as possible.

Salt the slices first. No matter the salad recipe you're making, salt the cut-up cucumber beforehand. The extra step allows them to release some of their water — keeping them extra crisp even when they get tossed with the dressing.

Japanese cucumbers are an excellent source of vitamins K, A, and C, folic acid, potassium, and silica, which is a trace mineral that helps strengthen connective tissue. Japanese cucumbers in pickled form are an essential component in Japanese cuisine.

When small, Asian cucumbers are eaten like other cumbers, raw or pickles, but when they grow up, Asian cucumbers assume more of a sweet melon quality, at which point many of our Cambodian farmers recommend eating them with yogurt and honey. Large Asian cucumbers are also sometimes added to soups.

Kirby cucumbers

These small, super-crunchy and mild cucumbers are usually six inches long or less and have bumpy skins and firm flesh.

You'll be able to feel cucumber spoilage before you see it; if cucumber sits for too long, it loses its characteristic crispness and becomes soft to the touch. "Both moisture and moisture build-up can contribute to cucumber spoilage," says Roszkowski.

"When storing cucumbers, you want to prevent moisture loss while also preventing rot, which can be tricky," Trimble says. To do this, she advises giving cukes an airtight "second skin" by wrapping them in plastic or beeswax wrap to slow deterioration.

Store sliced cucumbers in an airtight container, covered in water. The water will prevent the cut cucumbers from drying, shrinking or softening. Be sure to change the water every 2 to 3 days, to maintain freshness. We love this technique when preparing ahead of time for a big batch of Cucumber Salad.

This salt treatment draws water out of the cucumbers and flavors them, so it's critically important. After layering or mixing in plenty of sea salt, I cover the salted cukes with ice cubes and a tea towel and forget about them for a few hours.

How do you keep salad crisp and dry? ›

After a gentle rinse, pat the lettuce dry, tightly seal in a plastic bag, and store in the crisper drawer. Whole romaine heads last 10 to 20 days in the fridge, while romaine hearts stay crisp for a week to 10 days.

What is this? Add 1 Tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp of salt to the cut-up cucumber. Mix and let it sit aside for 30 minutes; this will help the cucumber stay nice and crunchy. After 30 minutes, dump out all the excess liquid.

' When we salt vegetables we're actually weakening the cell walls and therefore changing the integrity of the cucumber. Simply rinsing well with water will not add moisture back into the vegetable – so it's ok, rinse away!

I put the sliced cucumbers into a bowl filled with heavily salted ice water and let it stand for about 1/2 hour. Then I rinse the slices in a colander with cold water, making sure all the salt is rinsed off. Then I pat all the slices dry with paper towels (plain white ones).

This cucumber salad recipe features thinly sliced cucumbers, red onion, fresh dill, and a sweet and tangy vinegar dressing. Cooling and refreshing, this summer salad is a perfect BBQ or picnic side dish.

Bitter melon: Bitter melon looks like a cucumber with light green, warty, wrinkled skin.

The FRUIT might also help protect against stomach ulcers. Chinese cucumber ROOT contains a chemical that might cause abortions when injected during the first trimester of pregnancy. Chinese cucumber SEED might help decrease pain and swelling (inflammation). The FRUIT might also help protect against stomach ulcers.

The Japanese cucumber has several advantages over common cucumbers. It is slender, thin-skinned, void of developed seeds, never bitter and entirely edible. The average harvested length is about four inches, while the cucumber is still young. Its skin is forest green and smooth with longitudinal grooves.