Imitation is the best form of flattery
When White Boyfriend and I ate at the fobby hole-in-the-wall spot near our house called Xi'an Noodles, I knew I had to recreate their version of a Spicy Shredded Cucumber Salad | 麻辣黄瓜丝. A cucumber salad is a staple cold appetizer in Chinese restaurants—it's often on the table when you sit down. It's usually also a little...boring. This one had heat. It was a little party in my mouth.
Parsing out the ingredients wasn't especially hard, mainly because there aren't that many. The ones you can see are easy to identify—cucumber, green onions, garlic, and cilantro. The rest in the sauce you just gotta trust your taste buds.
A mandoline is pretty handy to get your cucumber sliced perfectly. It's also handy for cleanly lopping off the epidermis of your finger. I guess proceed at your own risk.
Chop everything else up and set aside. The green onions will be a test of your knife skills. Get that shit as thin as possible—I believe in you.
The wet ingredients are a leap of faith. I tasted, I smelled, I adjusted, I considered, I got tired; I mixed the whole damn thing together and called it delicious. White Boyfriend wasn't around to try it, but then again, cucumber salad doesn't usually draw him out of the woodwork.
For the straight-up Spicy Shredded Cucumber Salad recipe, click here.