Another simple classic: Smashed cucumber 拍黄瓜

[abcdefg]

Pai huanggua 拍黄瓜 is another one of those dishes that every Chinese family can make at home and not even the most humble hole-in-the-wall restaurant would dream of not offering. I've eaten it in Harbin alongside 饺子 dumplings and in Zhuhai alongside 蒸鱼 steamed fish. I've had it in Qinghai beside skewers of roast lamb 烤羊肉串 and in Lanzhou with a bowl of hand-pulled beef noodles 牛肉拉面。And I often make it here my Kunming kitchen without giving it a second thought.

 

It's a cool dish, or liang ban 凉拌, served at room temperature. These are the closest China comes to salads. They aren't popular in the Chinese restaurants I've tried in the US; in fact I didn't know they existed until arriving here on the Mainland a decade ago.

 

Pai 拍 means to beat, clap or smash, and that's what you do to the hapless cucumber. Let me show you how it goes. 

 

 

Cucumbers here are not very big around, but are longer than your 综合 text book. One is enough for two people as a side dish. In the market, select ones that have firm flesh and a deep green color. Scrub it well with a bristle brush or coarse dish cloth.

 

Peeling the cucumber is optional. Many people leave all the skin on. I usually take off a third or a half of it to make it easier to handle. It has a distinctive flavor which adds to the dish, so you don't want to peel the cucumber entirely.

 

 

 

 

 

Now it's time to release that pent up aggression. Slap it with the side of your big vegetable knife 菜刀 until the flesh breaks into fragments. Are you upset about the Trump presidency? Fine. Are you miffed that your girlfriend didn't like the bracelet you bought her? Fine. Take it out on the cucumber; consider it therapy. Finally, cut the fragments crosswise so they will be easier to toss with the sauce.

 

 

 

Put them into a big bowl and turn your attention to the seasoning. Do the dry seasonings first. Some garlic 独蒜 and some dry red pepper 干辣椒。Smash the garlic with the side of your knife, just like you did the cucumber. Then proceed to coarsely chop it. The dry peppers can just be torn in halves or thirds.

 

  

 

Chinese salt is a little bit tricky because it is very fine. It's easy to make things more salty than you intended. Here's a comparison between it and imported sea salt.

 

 

Sprinkle in a little of whichever salt you are using plus a sprinkle of granulated sugar. MSG is often used in restaurants, but you can omit it at home if you prefer.

 

Mix it up all up a little with your chopsticks and dress it with the wet ingredients next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Equal parts of vinegar, light soy sauce, and oil. I've used some premium aged vinegar 老陈醋 which is 10 years old. Smooth like Balsamic. The soy sauce should be the light kind as shown 生油/生酱油。I'm partial to sesame oil 芝麻油, and that's what I used today. If you preferred, you could use olive oil or any other salad oil. For one medium cucumber, I generally will use a tablespoon of each of these three. Remember, you are not making a French vinaigrette; it's OK if it's a little soupy. 

 

Usually at this point I just toss it well and serve. Today I added a step that someone else* suggested here on the forum in another discussion. I put a lid on the bowl and shook it real hard. Sounded like a good idea, and by golly it was. The result was smooth and well balanced. Maybe I will finally get that elusive Michelin star.

 

 

 

 

 

That's all there is to it. I often add some chopped cilantro 香菜 or wood ear mushrooms 木耳。 Beyond that you enter the zone of heresy, but can probably get away with sprinkling in a handful of roasted peanuts. At times I will defy convention by turning this into a light one-dish meal just by adding a chopped hard-boiled egg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Footnote: The idea for shaking it all up at the end came from Publius, here: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/53734-the-basics-tomatoes-and-eggs-番茄炒鸡蛋。

[somethingfunny]

This is getting pretty trendy in the UK.  I personally think this is partly to do with calling it "smashed cucumber" or "smacked cucumber" - makes it sound more exotic.

 

The cucumbers here aren't the knobbly kind you get in China and I don't think they're as tough so I'm always a little hesitant when giving it a whack.

 

I love these cool "salads" though and I see this as a gateway salad to the slightly more involved 拌三丁 and the heroin-level Korean 拌花菜.

[zander1]

22 minutes ago, somethingfunny said:

This is getting pretty trendy in the UK.

 

Yeah have seen this lots in London.

[Publius]

Er... I'm flattered you mentioned my name, abcdefg. But may I humbly suggest my name and the reference be removed? It kinda sorta ruined the perfect flow of the writing.

[abcdefg]

@Publius -- I moved it to a footnote at the end and changed it to a smaller-font type. (If you insist, I will remove it entirely. Just wanted to give credit and thanks where it was due.)

 

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@somethingfunny and @zander1 -- I had no idea it was so popular in the UK.

 

Right about the different type of cucumber. The kind I buy in Texas is different from these long, knobby Chinese ones too. They might just disintegrate and fly all over the room if punished the way this recipe requires. I would approach them with less vigor the first time for sure.

 

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Extra points quiz: Anyone know where 黄瓜 gets its name? Does "yellow melon" seem like a strange way to describe a green vegetable?

 

Spoiler:

Spoiler

It's from the yellow flower on the end of the immature vegetable.

 

[laurenth]

Yummy as always. Until recently I did not know that Chinese cooks smash their garlic. As it turns out, maybe two weeks ago, I saw it in this Mandarin Corner cooking video (Youtube, at about 2'50''). I could swear Eileen (the host) is giggling while using her 菜刀 - maybe, as suggested by abcdefg, she's thinking about something else than the garlic.

[abcdefg]

@laurenth -- She's in fact talking about a supervisor or boss she hates while slapping the garlic. (What a cute and lively teacher! I would volunteer to be her sous chef any day of the week.) 

 

Crushing the garlic that way is supposed to coax it to release its aromatic oils better than if it were just sliced. Similarly, slapping the cucumber into submission causes it to release some flavor elements that would be lost if it were just sliced. (At least that's the theory.)

 

The garlic she's using is the standard kind, referred to as 大算, with several cloves 蒜瓣 per head or bulb 蒜头。Once it is crushed, it becomes 蒜泥 or 蒜茸。You will often see those words on menus as well as in recipes. A common example would be 蒜泥炒菠菜 sauteed spinach with crushed garlic.

 

 

The kind of garlic I usually buy here is slightly different in that it doesn't have cloves; each head of garlic is all one piece. It's called 独蒜 or 独头蒜。In addition to being quicker to peel, it has a somewhat milder flavor.