This Chinese-style smashed cucumber salad tossed in a sweet and spicy garlicky sauce is one of my favourite Asian side dishes.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
After watching a few trending reels on Instagram, I got fascinated by this smashed cucumber salad. It is one of the tastiest and easiest cucumber salad recipes.
This Chinese salad is also known as liang ban huang gua or the cool tossed cucumber salad.
It is the real outburst of flavours in each bite.
Why You’ll Love This Salad
- gluten-free
- a vegan salad
- easy to make
- one bowl salad recipe
I am sharing my version of the smashed cucumber salad. It might not be authentic, but it sure tastes delicious.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Cucumber: Use English, Japanese, or Persian Cucumbers for this salad recipe. I would not recommend using Indian cucumbers.
- For Sauce: Garlic, Red Chilli Flakes, Red Chilli Powder, Light Soy Sauce, Rice Vinegar or Chinese Vinegar, Sesame Oil, Brown Sugar, Salt
- Toppings: Spring Onion Greens, Cilantro, Roasted Sesame Seeds
How To Make Salad
Chilli Oil For Salad
You can either use my homemade chilli oil recipe, prepare a big batch and store it in refrigerator. Or you can make from scratch in smaller quantity only for this cucumber salad recipe.
- Combine chilli flakes, garlic, and chilli powder in a heat-proof bowl.
- Heat sesame oil over medium heat in a small pan. Once the oil is hot, pour it over the chilli flakes and garlic. Mix nicely.
Prepare Cucumbers
- Wash cucumbers with water and salt. Wipe with a kitchen towel.
- Place them on a chopping board. Smack and smash the cucumbers using a big knife until the cucumbers start to split. Continue doing this along the length of the cucumber.
- Finally, slice the cucumber diagonally (image 1). Transfer them to a bowl.
- Season them with salt (image 2). Mix. Set aside 15 minutes to draw out the excess water and avoid watery salad.
Assemble Salad
- Discard all the excess liquid released by the cucumbers (image 3).
- Add chilli oil, salt, sugar, soy sauce, and vinegar to the cucumbers. Mix nicely (image 4).
- Add chopped spring onion greens, cilantro and roasted sesame seeds.
Serve smashed cucumber salad immediately!
Serving Suggestion
Smashed Cucumber Salad tastes delicious with stir fry noodles, Chilli Oil Noodles, or Chicken Pad Thai.
You can serve it with Asian main course dishes like fried rice, Thai Red Chicken Curry, or Kung Pao Chicken.
Trust me, it adds great flavour to your Asian meals or Indo-Chinese dishes.
More Salad Recipes
- Lentil Salad
- Pomelo Salad
- Chickpea Salad
- Crispy Noodle Salad
- Chicken Pasta Salad
- Healthy Cabbage Salad
- Roasted Pumpkin Salad
- Tropical Pineapple Salad
Get all my Salad Recipes here and you can watch the videos on Instagram.
Smashed Cucumber Salad Recipe
- Salad Mixing Bowl
- Small Pan
Ingredients
- 250 gram english cucumber
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon red chilli flakes
- ⅛ Cup sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ½ Cup chopped spring onion greens
- 1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Combine chilli flakes, garlic, and chilli powder in a heat-proof bowl.
- Heat sesame oil over medium heat in a small pan. Once the oil is hot, pour it over the chilli flakes and garlic. Mix nicely. Chilli Oil is ready. You can either store it or use it for salad.
- Wash cucumbers with water and salt. Wipe with a kitchen towel.
- Place them on a chopping board. Smack and smash the cucumbers using a big knife until the cucumbers start to split. Continue doing this along the length of the cucumber.
- Finally, slice the cucumber diagonally. Transfer them to a bowl.
- Season them with salt. Mix. Set aside 15 minutes to draw out the excess water and avoid watery salad.
- Discard all the excess liquid released by the cucumbers.
- Add chilli oil, salt, sugar, soy sauce, and vinegar to the cucumbers. Mix nicely
- Add chopped spring onion greens, cilantro and roasted sesame seeds.
Recipe Notes:
- Use English, Japanese, or Persian Cucumbers for this salad recipe. I would not recommend using Indian cucumbers.
- You can use a butcher knife or a meat pounder to smash the cucumbers.
- If you have readymade or homemade chilli oil, then use it for the salad.
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