Smashed cucumbers and chicken, no stove required

Name: Smashed cucumbers and chicken, no stove required
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 6 Persian or other thin-skinned small cucumbers; ½ tsp fine sea salt; ¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar (or to taste); 1 tbsp sesame oil (toasted or untoasted); 2 tsp soy sauce; 1 tsp honey (optional); 1 lb coarsely shredded cooked chicken (about 2½ cups, rotisserie or poached); 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro; ½ tsp red-pepper flakes (½ to 1 tsp, to taste); 2 tsp toasted white sesame seeds (optional)

Take your aggression out on a cucumber. It is good for you both.

At a Glance

Time

40 min

Serves

Story

Smashing a cucumber instead of slicing it is not merely theatre, though it is very good theatre. Those ragged, broken faces grab hold of a dressing the way a tidy coin never could, and the salting that follows is the quiet cleverness. A spell in a colander draws off the watery cowardice, leaving cucumbers that stay brisk and crunching and drink the vinegar in rather than weeping it back onto the plate. A borrowed Sichuan move, and a thoroughly good one.

Ingredients

6 Persian or other thin-skinned small cucumbers
½ tsp fine sea salt
¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegaror to taste
1 tbsp sesame oiltoasted or untoasted
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp honeyoptional
1 lb coarsely shredded cooked chickenabout 2½ cups, rotisserie or poached
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
½ tsp red-pepper flakes½ to 1 tsp, to taste
2 tsp toasted white sesame seedsoptional

Method

Rotisserie chicken makes this a no-cook dinner, though a poached breast is lovely if you have the ten minutes. Best served properly cold.

Top and tail the cucumbers and halve them lengthwise. Lay each piece flat and bring the side of a chef's knife, a mallet, or any heavy honest tool down on it until it splits and flattens, then break the shards apart with your hands. Pile them in a colander set over a bowl, toss with the salt and refrigerate 20 minutes to chill and drain.
Wipe out the bowl and whisk together the vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce and honey. Start shy on the vinegar and add more once you have tasted, it should be sharp but not a slap.
Add the drained cucumbers and the shredded chicken and toss until everything is glossed. Scatter over the cilantro, red-pepper flakes and sesame seeds. Serve it cold, and know it is even better tomorrow once the cucumbers have sat all night in the dressing.

Leftovers stretch two ways: fold in a tin of chickpeas for a second, sturdier salad, or pile it between bread for a very smug lunch.

On the pass