Chinese Garlic Cucumber Salad (Liangban Huanggua)

Liangban Huanggua (涼拌黃瓜) - Chinese cucumbers with garlic, vinegar, sesame oil, and hot peppers - Diversivore.com

Chinese Garlic Cucumber Salad (Liangban Huanggua)

Delicious, garlicky, and adaptable to any level of spice. This simple salad/side is wildly popular all over China for a good reason!

Course Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine Asian, Chinese

Keyword chinese cucumber salad, chinese smashed cucumbers, chinese spicy cucumber salad, smashed cucumbers with garlic

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Total Time 25

Servings people

Calories 42kcal

Ingredients

350 g Japanese or Lebanese cucumbers (see note)
3 cloves garlic
1 small Thai bird's eye chili (or other small hot pepper)
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt

Instructions

Clean the cucumbers, but do not peel them. Cut them in half the long way, and then into 2 cm (~1 inch) pieces. Place them into a container with a tight-fitting lid.
Peel and smash (do not mince) the garlic cloves and add them to the cucumbers.
Coarsely chop the chili and add it to the cucumbers. If you like a milder heat, remove the seeds and membranes from the chili.
Combine all of the remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over the cucumbers.
Vigorously shake the container (with the lid on) for about 30 seconds to 'smash' the cucumbers. Refrigerate and let stand for at least 15 minutes.

Notes

CUCUMBERS

Small, firm Japanese or Lebanese cucumbers are ideal for this recipe because they're less watery and they stand up well to mixing/smashing. If you can't find any, you can still make this with common field or English cucumbers - simply use a spoon to remove the seeds from the center first, then chop the firm fleshy portion into nice bite-sized pieces. Whether you leave the skin on these larger cucumbers or not will depend on how tough it is (field cucumbers are often quite thick-skinned).

CUSTOMIZING

It's pretty easy to tweak this to your individual tastes. If you'd like it a little more sour, add more vinegar. Sweeter? Add a bit of sugar. If you want some more heat, leave the seeds and membranes in the chilies and/or add more chilies (one seeded chili makes for a rather mild version). It can be further modified by adding thinly sliced carrots, crushed Sichuan peppercorns (a variation that is, suitably, popular in Sichuan), thinly sliced firm tofu (doukan) and more.

SMASHING!

If you happen to be preparing this on the fly and you don't have a container with a tight-fitting lid, simply smash the cucumbers under the broad side of a cleaver before tossing them into a bowl. Pour the sauce over everything and let it stand for 15 minutes or so before serving.

Nutrition