Asian Spicy Cucumber Salad

 

Hello and happy Friday to you Friends ~

I hope you have a wonderful weekend planned ahead. :) We will be having some relatives gathering here to celebrate some family events. Matt & I will also get in some chill time, hopefully some walks, church time, and maybe out with friends one evening. 💗

Annie is down getting all settled in her dorm to begin college next week. It's still not really sinking in for me and I keep expecting her to drive up the driveway any minute. Eventually it will become real but right now, honestly, denial hasn't been a bad thing. Lol 😁

Matt & I are getting into our new normal with meal planning for only 2, and working on it together. The other night I had dinner in the oven cooking and we had several cucumbers to use up - so he whipped up this yummy salad while dinner was cooking, as a kind of appetizer for us. He didn't really measure and looked at several different recipes as references. Then he threw together what he thought sounded good. It turned out so yummy! We stood in the kitchen chatting and eating it right out of the bowl he made it in - using chopsticks of course - as that's just more fun. 🥢 🥣 We both love Asian food and flavors and always have chopsticks on hand. 😊 

So after grilling him about what he thought he threw in there - this is what we're guessing the approximate amounts he did:

SPICY CUCUMBER SALAD:

He used 2 really big cukes cut very thin, but I think you could use more as we had leftover sauce

2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp peanut butter

1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

garlic (we used powder because out of cloves) otherwise use 1-2 cloves

1/2 tsp chili oil (or use a full tsp if you like it spicier - I requested less)

1-2 tsp sesame oil

sesame seeds (we used toasted ones we had) - sprinkle how much you like

*addendum to this is Matt reminded me that he added about a tsp or so of chili crunch to the dish too. If you like a little spicy this really makes it! I recommend trying it that way. 

Mix the dressing ingredients in a big bowl. Cut up the cukes very thin and toss into the bowl with dressing. Mix all to coat everything. We suggest you eat it with chopsticks for best flavor. 😉 Lol

*I have seen other recipes like this that do it more Thai style and add cilantro and chopped peanuts. Some use chopped scallion too. And some even add honey or sugar for sweetness. 

Feel free to add and adjust ingredients to your flavor preferences or what you have on hand. It's a very versatile and yummy salad if you use the basic flavor profile of cucumbers, soy sauce, pb, rice wine vinegar, garlic and sesame oil - and then you can build from there. 

If you try it I hope you enjoy! 

xoxo