After a horrific break up from my first love, I spent a year living with my grandparents. My grandma cooked light during the week, went out with grandpa on Saturday nights (most of the time), and Sunday was the meal she put her elbows into. During the summer, lighter fare was always preferred. My grandma loved (and I mean LOVED) fresh vegetables and liked them prepared very simply. Often times you'd find her chomping away at a tomato (with a salt shaker nearby) just like she was eating an apple.
One of her favorite and easy to make dishes was cucumber salad. Naturally she preferred it with tomatoes but since I loathes tomatoes raw and I was her most favoritest granddaughter EVER, she would alter certain recipes when I was there. Grandma's Tovah-friendly version was made with regular cucumbers, white onion, and tomatoes.
I've changed it a bit to cater to my own personal preferences by substituting the white onion for red, and the tomatoes have been replaced with celery. My version of cucumber salad is a light, tangy, refreshing salad with a bit of a bite to it.
THE NIBBLES
Ingredients:
1 large or two smallish English cucumber(s)
1 small red onion
4-6 stalks of celery
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1-2 tsp chili oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup rice or rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp black or white sesame seeds toasted (black make for more dramatic visual effect, but toasting white ones adds a bit off nutty deliciousness)
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
I love to slice, dice, cut, chop, and whatever else I can do with a knife when it comes to food, but a mandolin set to the thin setting (as long as it's 1/4 inch or thinner) will make super fast work of this dish.
Slice the cucumbers in half length wise and then cut each half into 1/4 half moon shapes. Slice the celery into the same thickness. I like a ratio of 2:2:1 (cuc:celery:onion) so depending on your cucumber, you'll use anywhere from 4-6 stalks of celery. Take the red onion and cut it into quarters before slicing it into thin strips. You don't want a dice with this nor do you want super thick or long slices. They should end up about the same length as your little half moon cucumbers.
If you are using white sesame seeds, now is the time to toast them. Pour your seeds into a small pan over medium high heat. Gently shimmy and shake the pan over the heat to keep the seeds moving. Give them a toss or two (or stir if you can't toss/flip a pan) and let them cook until you are just starting to smell the nutty sesame odor waft from the pan. They will be slightly golden. Pull them off the heat and immediately pour then onto a plate to allow them to cool.
Throw all of the veggies in a big bowl and douse with vinegar, chili oil, kosher salt and pepper. I'm not big on exact measurements. I usually start with a few sprinkles of everything and just keep adding until I have just enough on the veggies to taste it on first bite. I'm big on the whole taste as you go method. The vinegar and chili oil WILL soak into these super porous water veggies so don't over do it! Sprinkle the sugar and sesame seeds over everything and toss to combine.
Chill in the fridge for 1-3 hours. This will get everything nice and cold as well as allow the vinegar and oil to soak into the veggies.
The veggies will stay crisp for about 2 days but then they'll start to get wilty and soft so eat up!
I've changed it a bit to cater to my own personal preferences by substituting the white onion for red, and the tomatoes have been replaced with celery. My version of cucumber salad is a light, tangy, refreshing salad with a bit of a bite to it.
THE NIBBLES
Ingredients:
1 large or two smallish English cucumber(s)
1 small red onion
4-6 stalks of celery
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1-2 tsp chili oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup rice or rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp black or white sesame seeds toasted (black make for more dramatic visual effect, but toasting white ones adds a bit off nutty deliciousness)
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
I love to slice, dice, cut, chop, and whatever else I can do with a knife when it comes to food, but a mandolin set to the thin setting (as long as it's 1/4 inch or thinner) will make super fast work of this dish.
Slice the cucumbers in half length wise and then cut each half into 1/4 half moon shapes. Slice the celery into the same thickness. I like a ratio of 2:2:1 (cuc:celery:onion) so depending on your cucumber, you'll use anywhere from 4-6 stalks of celery. Take the red onion and cut it into quarters before slicing it into thin strips. You don't want a dice with this nor do you want super thick or long slices. They should end up about the same length as your little half moon cucumbers.
If you are using white sesame seeds, now is the time to toast them. Pour your seeds into a small pan over medium high heat. Gently shimmy and shake the pan over the heat to keep the seeds moving. Give them a toss or two (or stir if you can't toss/flip a pan) and let them cook until you are just starting to smell the nutty sesame odor waft from the pan. They will be slightly golden. Pull them off the heat and immediately pour then onto a plate to allow them to cool.
Throw all of the veggies in a big bowl and douse with vinegar, chili oil, kosher salt and pepper. I'm not big on exact measurements. I usually start with a few sprinkles of everything and just keep adding until I have just enough on the veggies to taste it on first bite. I'm big on the whole taste as you go method. The vinegar and chili oil WILL soak into these super porous water veggies so don't over do it! Sprinkle the sugar and sesame seeds over everything and toss to combine.
Chill in the fridge for 1-3 hours. This will get everything nice and cold as well as allow the vinegar and oil to soak into the veggies.
The veggies will stay crisp for about 2 days but then they'll start to get wilty and soft so eat up!
Extreme close up: hello little sesame seeds, you look delicious!
