Smashed Cucumber Salad

For this refreshing Chinese recipe, we'll use gluten-free soy sauce.

The cucumbers are lightly coated with a dressing of garlic, chili, GF soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil.

There’s a reason the saying is “cool as a cucumber”: on a hot summer day, when you bite into a nice cucumber salad, your temperature does seem to drop, doesn’t it?

This vegetarian recipe is refreshing, even if it is spiced with a bit of chili, and it is nicely balanced with a bit of saltiness, sweetness, and tartness that gets absorbed into the crunch of the cucumber.

This recipe hails from China, whose cuisine can be surprisingly challenging for people on a gluten-free diet. It’s because of the soy sauce, whose deceiving name hides the fact that most of those products contain wheat. The good news is that there are very good—even better—versions of soy sauce available that are gluten-free. I have a photo below of one brand I buy at a large Asian supermarket called Good Fortune. Another good option that I use a lot is San-J Tamari, a GF version of soy sauce, which is very easy to find—I’ve bought it at Walmart, and I know Amazon carries it.

Get a big kitchen knife ready—a cleaver if you have it—and get ready to smash a cucumber!

Fresh ingredients:

1. 1 cucumber, preferably an English cucumber, a it’s easier to smash!

2. 1 fresh hot pepper (see note¹)

3. 3 cloves fresh garlic

Dressing ingredients:

1. 1 tablespoon GF soy sauce or tamari (see note²)

2. 1 tablespoon rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar (see note³)

3. 1 teaspoon sugar

4. ½ teaspoon sea salt

5. 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (see note⁴)

Here’s an example of GF soy sauce you may be able to find in an Asian supermarket. Another good GF soy sauce is San-J Tamari.

Instructions:

1. Using the flat side of a large knife blade, press down on the cucumber to smash it all along its length, then cut the cucumber into bite-sized pieces

2. Chop the garlic and Cayenne pepper

3. Mix the dressing ingredients (GF soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt, sesame oil) in a bowl and add the fresh ingredients (cucumber, garlic, Cayenne) to the bowl

4. Toss the ingredients together so that the cucumber is completely coated with the dressing and serve

Smash the cucumber with the flat side of a large knife before slicing it into bite-sized pieces.

Cat update:

Seraphina is a chatty cat. She like to talk to people with different-sounding meows, depending on the situation. She has a meow to say, “I want to crawl in your lap and knead you”; one to announce, “I’ve just successfully used the litter box”; one to say, “Feed me”; one to say, “Hey, put me down”; one to say, “Where is everyone?”; and a several others that she uses more rarely (the most horrible to hear is the heart-rending cry she makes when she’s in her carrier on the way to the vet). Of course, like all cats, she has a nice rumbling purr that shows up when she’s happy and content. I captured one of her meows in the video above—she’s saying she’d like me to pet her and rub her belly after lunch.

1. The type of hot pepper you use is not important, but Cayenne or Thai chilis are what I typically have around, as I grow my own. I’ve seen recipes that use chili oil instead of fresh chili pepper. Use what you have or is easy for you to find, such as dried red pepper flakes.

2. As I noted above, you have to be careful when choosing soy sauce to be sure it doesn’t contain wheat. The GF brand that is most readily available is San-J Tamari, which is 100% soy. You may also be able to find GF soy sauce, such as the one shown in the photo, at Asian markets.

3. If you can find Chinkiang black vinegar, use that, but balsamic vinegar is very similar (it’s also a dark vinegar). Regular light-colored rice vinegar also works well for this recipe.

4. Some sesame oils are toasted, and some are not—the untoasted type has a neutral flavor and color, but the toasted has a rich flavor and brown color. Many of the sesame oils you can find in Asian markets are toasted, and one common brand that will work well for this recipe is Kadoya.