Two reasons you’ll thank yourself for watching this video.
One:
you’ll add a new 10-minute recipe to your repertoire:
my dad’s zesty, crunchy
Smashed Cucumber Salad
Two:
this recipe is packed with a ton of subtle tips
and techniques that’ll make you a better chef.
We’ll start with how to develop the perfect bite of cucumber.
First, we're going to cut the cucumbers.
Of course, we need to wash them first.
Now, we'll cut them.
Two cucumbers.
First, we’ll trim off the ends.
Then we’ll peel them just a bit.
At home,
I peel it in an alternating pattern.
I think it's tastier that way.
Peel it in alternating stripes, not the whole thing.
Just a bit.
For one thing, it'll look nice,
and for another, the skin won't be as tough to eat.
Okay?
Shirley from the Canto Cooking Club asked,
"How do you hand-pick the best quality cucumber?"
For long cucumbers, this is quite good.
Don't get overly thick cucumbers.
The thicker ones are too mature.
Buy slender cucumbers.
With our ordinary short cucumbers,
again, don't get thick ones.
Look for uniform thickness,
not ones with bulging middles.
If the middle bulges out and the ends are slender, it's old.
When Daddy says long cucumber, he means English cucumbers.
He prefers English cucumbers.
English cucumbers are softer.
They have thinner peels.
Generally, they taste better.
These short ones are okay too, if you peel them.
The short cucumbers are crunchier.
You want cucumbers with bumpy peels, not smooth.
Ones with bumpy exteriors.
I was thinking it was the opposite,
that you'd want a bigger, smoother one.
Now, how to cut it?
Split it down the middle like this.
We’ll first cut the cucumber in half lengthwise.
You can remove some of the core.
Then it won't be so watery.
Then we’ll cut out most of the core.
There's not much core to remove on this piece.
This is a pretty good cucumber.
Not overly mature.
How can you tell?
If there are big seeds in the core, it's very mature.
"Why do you need to remove the cucumber seeds?"
Cucumbers contain a lot of water.
If you remove the core, it won't be so watery.
Too much water from the cucumber will dilute the seasoning
and change the flavor.
Now, we'll smash it.
We smash the cucumber with the cleaver for this dish.
You can put a lot of strength into it.
Grip the cleaver by the handle.
Now it’s time to smash with our cleaver.
Just like that.
Then, we cut strips.
After smashing, we’ll slice at a slight angle
into roughly 1/2-inch thick pieces.
Put them in a bowl.
If you don’t have a cleaver like this,
you can use anything heavy,
like a meat tenderizer or rolling pin.
"What's the difference between smashing and just chopping?"
Cucumbers are very dense,
so seasonings can't penetrate well.
Smashing loosens up the cucumbers.
Cutting or chopping doesn't do that,
so seasonings wouldn't penetrate chopped cucumber.
It wouldn't have as good a flavor or texture.
Smash this piece as well.
If smashing the cucumber causes it to split like this,
my dad likes to just cut it in half again
and cut in pieces at even more of an angle.
How are you cutting it?
I'm cutting it at an angle.
Okay?
Then the pieces are longer.
If I cut straight strips, they'd be very short.
The angle gives me longer pieces.
My dad likes to have longer slices,
which is why he cuts at an angle.
You can control and adapt your knife.
You don't always have to cut straight.
You adjust based on the shape of your ingredient.
For more tips about how to use a cleaver,
check out our comprehensive masterclass
on Chinese knife techniques
in the Canto Cooking Club.
To get access, learn more at club.madewithlau.com
"Is this normally eaten with the cucumber skin on,
or can you eat it without the skin?"
It's not as good if you completely peel the cucumber.
It'd be too soft.
You can peel it in alternating stripes.
Once we’re done cutting the cucumbers,
we’ll move on to the bell pepper.
We only need a bit of red bell pepper.
We just want it for a pretty pop of color.
Of course, it's tasty, too!
It's sweet.
We’ll use about a fourth of a red bell pepper.
Slice it thinly.
Then we’ll also slice it into 1/2-inch thick pieces.
How many oz is that?
Just 2 oz, not too much.
Chop some green onions.
Now we’ll dice up two pieces of green onion.
This is cilantro.
If you don't like cilantro, you can omit it.
We’ll chop up a small bunch of cilantro into inch-long pieces.
We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com
along with step-by-step instructions and video clips
to guide you as you make the recipe at home.
Let's marinate the cucumbers.
Start with 1 tsp of salt.
1 tsp of sugar.
Then, mix it well.
Using salt & sugar will pull out the moisture from the cucumbers.
Like salt, sugar also draws out moisture
from ingredients through osmosis.
We're trying to draw out the moisture from the cucumbers.
Then when we season it,
the flavors will penetrate the cucumbers better.
We can just mix everything together.
After a quick toss,
we’ll also add in the red bell peppers and mix it in.
Okay!
Set it there.
The salt and sugar step doesn't take long, just 30 minutes.
Some people season and eat it right away.
The longer you salt it, the more water comes out.
If you draw out more water, it'll have less cucumber taste.
As my dad mentions,
we’ll set the cucumbers and bell peppers aside for 30 minutes
to let the salt and sugar draw out the moisture.
If you don’t have the time, you can skip this step
or not wait the full 30 minutes.
In the meantime, we’ll prepare the garlic for the tasty sauce.
Now, let's smash the garlic.
3-4 cloves.
More garlic is tastier.
Squeeze the top and bottom.
The peel just pops off, see?
Very easy to peel!
We’ll first peel the garlic cloves.
To make the garlic paste-y,
some people smash down like this.
but that way won't make very small pieces.
Smash it like this.
We’ll turn the garlic into a paste
by smashing a little bit at a time
while holding one side of the clove.
Your index finger presses down on the side here.
Grip the handle firmly.
That's how you can put strength into it.
Watch.
We’ll do the same with the rest of the garlic.
Now you have a garlic paste.
Then we’ll do a quick chop of the paste before moving on.
Our garlic paste is ready.
What's next? The sauce!
Let's make the sauce.
This is chili sauce.
Homemade chili sauce.
Add 1/2 tsp of chili sauce.
Look at that amazing oil!
1 tbsp of light soy sauce.
1 tbsp of oyster sauce.
2 tbsp of vinegar.
Teresa from Patreon asked,
"What vinegar is best for this?"
White or rice vinegar.
Zhejiang vinegar is also good.
Don't use cheap vinegars, they're made of concentrates.
The very best vinegar is made from fermented rice.
2 tbsp of sugar.
Mix it well.
Jim from Patreon asked,
"What kind of seasonings and sauces can you use?"
The sauce for Smashed Cucumber Salad must be
sour, sweet, and spicy.
If you love spicy or sour flavors,
you can make the sauce more intense.
If you don't like it so spicy, make the sauce milder.
You can also add sesame seeds or peanuts,
some people like to add peanuts.
It doesn't really matter.
The sauce has to be sour, sweet, spicy, and salty.
Let's have a taste.
Make sure to try your sauce to see if it needs any adjustment.
A little more light soy sauce.
Another tsp of light soy sauce.
Add the garlic paste to the sauce.
Mix the garlic paste in.
Smashed Cucumber Salad, or paak wong gwa,
isn’t just an “appetizer” categorically
its purpose is to get you in the mood to eat.
In Cantonese, we describe foods that wake up your appetite
as hoi wai,
which literally means to open the stomach.
Flavors that we usually call hoi wai
are tangy & spicy,
which we achieve here with vinegar and chili sauce.
While you can use any type of chili sauce,
we’re using our homemade version
and you can use the link in our description
to check out that recipe.
Time's up with the vegetables.
After 30 minutes of letting the salt and sugar do their thing,
we’ll drain the cucumbers and bell peppers.
Look at all the water that came out.
Squeeze out more water from the vegetables.
We’ll press down on the cucumbers and bell peppers
to squeeze out any excess water.
More water came out.
We’ll discard the liquid
and put the cucumbers and bell peppers back in the large bowl
to get ready to combine everything.
Now, add all the sauce.
First, we’ll pour in the sauce we just made.
Add the chopped green onions.
Then we’ll add in the green onions and now we can mix.
Give it a good toss.
We’ll shake it well using a plate to cover it
but any sort of lid will work.
No need to mix, just shake it like this.
You can really shake it.
Help the cucumbers absorb that sauce.
After just 30 seconds of tossing,
we can add our finishing touches.
Now, add the cilantro.
If you don't like cilantro, just skip it.
Add some sesame seeds.
Sesame oil.
1/2 tbsp of sesame oil.
1/2 tbsp of cooking oil as well.
Mix it well.
After adding everything,
we can do a quick mix and give it a taste test.
A nice, crisp texture.
"How do you keep the cucumber crunchy?"
It'll stay crunchy once you add vinegar.
Whether you pickle carrots or anything with vinegar,
once you've marinated with vinegar, it'll be crunchy.
Finally, we’ll transfer everything onto a plate,
making sure to add all of that delicious sauce.
Hello, friends!
Smashed Cucumber Salad is complete!
I hope you all enjoy it.
Hong Doy, Mui Mui!
Time to eat cucumbers!
Cheers!
Thanks for watching!
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