Just inherited a bunch of cucumbers from a friend’s garden. I love them just on their own with some salt, and have made many a salad using them. I’m curious what kinds of fun things you all may use them for. Even if you feel like it’s basic please share as I will be eating cucumbers for the next several days straight lol. Thanks for any and all suggestions!
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Korean spicy seasoned cucumber (oi muchim) is awesome with any meal with rice. Other than gochugaru (hot pepper flakes), every other ingredient you can get at a typical grocery store. I always have gochugaru on hand so I make this pretty regularly with lunch
Absolutely this. I make a slightly different version.
Halve a few cucumbers, chop into 1/2" pieces, I then crush line under a plate or bowl, not to pulp but just to break them up some. Salt and set aside for a few minutes to draw some moisture out. Drain, then add a tbsp or so of gochujang, a clove or so of garlic, tsp or so sesame oil, splash ponzu, 1 tsp sugar, and chili flakes to taste.
Honestly I’ve even just parsed it down to gochujang and sesame oil and it’s great.
Excellent side dish to so many things.
I am definitely trying this, thanks!
Tzaziki is one of my favourite uses for cucumber, plus you can really put a lot in there. Another option might be raita!
I like them in salads, but when is harvesting season and I have lots of them I like to add them to pasta veggie mixes.
Usually I add them at the end of cooking to be lightly roasted but still crunchy.
Edit: roasted autoerection in action ;-)
So jealous of the amount of Raita you could be eating right now.
I would try to make biryani as my raita delivery vehicle.
Yes OP look up a recipe for raita and go for it. Maximum flavour from minimum ingredients. The spice i love in my raita is roasted and crushed cumin.
They’re excellent for dipping in hummus. That’s actually what I’m eating right now as I type this.
Get some French onion or ranch dip and cut them into slices for eating. Another possible option is to dehydrate them into cucumber chips.
Make pickles. It’s easy to make refrigerator pickles you just need some vinegar and spices. It works the best if their pickling cucumbers but the regular ones work alright. The flavor is the but the texture is a little off
Cucumber is good for meatless sandwiches. The classic English tea sandwich is cucumber and cream cheese. I like cucumber, hummus, onion, and tomato on seeded whole wheat. It gives a sandwich that relies on a spread for it’s primary filling flavor some thickness and crunch.
Cacik! It’s a Turkish chilled soup with yogurt, cucumber, mint, garlic, etc. Very refreshing in hot weather.
Salade nicoise : cold rice, tomatoes, cucumbers, olivs (green or black, but black ones give a weird color to the salad), mayonnaise. You can also add thuna, cubes of hard cheese…
Tabbouleh : bulgur, tomatoes, cucumber, oignon, mint, lemon juice, olive oil. You can also add chicken breast, chick peas, raisin, parsley, watermelon…
For these salades, there are tons of recipes. In my opinion, the most important is to have more vegetables than anything else.
So it’s not exactly sophisticated but cucumber water. I love it, every time I go somewhere that has cucumber water I always think I’m somewhere posh (even though it costs pennies).
Never encountered finadene, thanks so much for sharing! Looking forward to trying :)
It’s a fantastically versatile sauce. You can marinate chicken or dip cooked beef in it for flavor. Or pour it over rice with fish.
Chinese style smashed cucumber salad with chilli and sesame oil
Greek salad with diced cucumber, tomato, onion, olives, and feta with a vinaigrette is delicious. Also, cucumber and onion salad is just cucumbers, onions, white vinegar, water, salt, pepper, and a little sugar is delicious. I can’t remember the measurements but it should be very easy to find online.
