The Chinese respect cucumbers very much and strive to add them to any dish that is possible. However, in their independent form they are also extremely fond of. The Chinese āBeat Cucumbersā is one of the simplest snacks, which, with all its primitiveness, enjoys wild success both at home and around the world. It cooks extremely quickly and is suitable for almost all dishes. And how to āsnackā under the festive glass is simply perfect.
The right cucumbers and the way they are processed
In order for the āBeat Cucumbersā in Chinese to please you, you first need to competently approach the choice of a vegetable. Forget about the prickly sturdy kids, you need cucumbers from long-fruited varieties.
Now about their processing. The title āBroken Cucumbersā already contains a hint: the vegetable needs to be thoroughly beaten. Two approaches are possible here. According to the first version, it is enough to peel the cucumbers with a rolling pin or a wooden hammer in its entirety. But the second version is closer to us. It is no secret that a long vegetable has quite large seeds. And in the snack, they will definitely be superfluous. So itās better to cut the cucumber along and scrape the āinsidesā with a knife, as is done with pumpkin and melon. After that, the vegetable is placed downward by a slice and processed with a tool until it crackes (but not to a mushy state!). Beating is necessary for better impregnation of vegetables with marinade.
Next, the workpiece is coarsely cut obliquely, salted and left for ten minutes. The juice that stands out is poured (some culinary experts even advise squeezing it), and the āBeaten Cucumbersā seasoned with pre-prepared sauce. In addition to him and the vegetable itself, nothing else is included in the original snack.
Beat Cucumbers: Refueling Recipe No. 1
Pay attention to the sauce. Chinese cuisine offers several options for refueling. For the first, you need to combine soy sauce and black vinegar in the amount of three tablespoons and add to them two tablespoons of vegetable oil. Preference should be given to peanut. Then two tablespoons of liquid natural honey and one of sesame oil are introduced. In order for the āBeat Cucumbersā to be spicy, four crushed garlic and dried chili are added to the marinade. It is taken at the discretion of the cook. After refueling, the snack is kept in the refrigerator for at least a quarter of an hour.
Gas station number 2
With it, āBeat Cucumbersā become more accessible - nothing exotic is included in the sauce. It is required to combine an equal amount of vodka, soy sauce, vinegar and vegetable oil. To maintain authenticity, it is recommended to take sesame oil nevertheless (it will be slightly worse with olive, but with sunflower it will turn out tasty, but primitive). It is advisable to buy vinegar rice; if not possible, replace it with lemon juice.
Third version
In this gas station, the differences from recipe number 1 are small, but significant. With it you will get completely different āBeaten Cucumbersā. The recipe includes oyster and soy sauce with black (or apple) vinegar taken in a spoon. Garlic for such a volume requires three wedges, sesame oil will go half a spoon. Plus chili peppers, sugar and salt of your choice.
Alternative cooking method
If all the previous ones meant portion cooking, then this option requires almost a kilogram of cucumbers. They are cut large; in parallel, a good bunch of dill and eight garlic cloves are chopped as small as possible. For dressing, half a glass of soy sauce, a spoonful of sugar, two - vegetable oil, three - apple cider vinegar and half a spoonful of ground red pepper are mixed. Black is to taste, as is salt. All this is placed in a tight bag, shakes well and only after it is beaten off with a rolling pin. An hour of cooling - and the āBroken Cucumbersā are ready.
Chinese salad
It is based on cucumbers, beaten according to traditional rules. Squeezed from the juice, they are placed in a salad bowl and supplemented with chopped garlic and chopped fairly large cilantro. The dressing is light soy sauce, sesame oil and black rice vinegar - just a spoonful. The composition is supplemented with half a spoonful of hot oil and sugar (a little). Fried cashews are added to the salad, the marinade is poured - and you can try it almost immediately. This salad is offered by the Chinese Letter Restaurant. We can say that there he enjoys increased popularity. However, it is not necessary to attend a public catering, the salad is quite accessible for hand-made cooking.