I’m generally pretty rubbish when it comes to things horticultural, particularly if they’re vegetables. Flowers I’m actually reasonable at. Vegetables – horrendous. So it’s come as something of a shock to harvest four telegraph cucumbers in the space of 2 days.
This set me to start investigating cucumber recipes … and cucumber and chilli salad seemed a super easy place to start.
Of course, I didn’t rush off an buy Lebanese cucumbers, I made use of what I had. I used approximately half one of my cucumbers and I halved the remainder of the ingredients. I opted to use fresh chilli instead of chilli flakes too – I think it made the finished product just that bit more colourful.
Begin by halving and then finely slicing your cucumber(s) of choice. I used a mandoline
Place the sliced cucumber in a bowl and add 1 clove of garlic, crushed and finely chopped, half a finely chopped red chilli, 1 tsp of caster sugar, 1 tbsp of vinegar (I used white wine vinegar) and 1 tsp of sesame oil. Give it all a good mix together to help the caster sugar dissolve and to ensure the cucumber is well coated.
Set the salad aside for at least an hour. This is one of those great salads that doesn’t wilt if you leave it – so next time you need to take a salad to a BBQ it’s worth considering. If you want to make it well in advance, cover in cling film and pop it in the fridge until about half an hour before you need it.
As this is a cucumber salad, make sure you have to salt to hand!
We ate this sald with our favourite quick and easy mid week dinner, a spicy chicken stir fry.