🥒 Smashed Cucumbers: Your new favorite salad! (拍黃瓜)

Two reasons you'll thank yourself for watching this video. 1. You'll add a new 10-minute recipe to your repertoire. My dad's zesty, crunchy Pak Ong Kwa! Smashed Cucumber Salad. 2. This recipe is packed with a ton of subtle tips and techniques That'll make you a better chef. We'll start with how to develop the perfect bite of cucumber. First, we'll cut the cucumber. Of course, we have to wash the cucumber first, right? First, we'll cut the cucumber. First, we'll trim off the ends. Then, we'll peel them just a bit. When I make this at home, I usually peel the cucumber just a bit. This way, it'll taste just as good. Don't peel it all the way, just a bit. This way, it'll be easier to eat, and the skin won't be as hard. Shirley from the Cantonese Picking Club asks, How do you hand-pick the best quality cucumber? If you have a long cucumber, this is a good choice. When you buy it, make sure it's not too thick. If it's too thick, it'll taste old. If it's thin, it'll taste good. Usually, we don't buy short cucumbers because they're too fat. It's best to buy cucumbers that are flat. Don't buy cucumbers that have a protruding middle. If the middle is protruding, it'll taste old. My dad's long cucumber is called English Cucumber. He prefers the English Cucumber. Long cucumbers are softer, and the skin is thinner. Long cucumbers should taste better. If you peel this cucumber, it'll taste good. This cucumber is shorter and more crunchy. The soft cucumber is not as smooth. The skin is not as smooth. I would think it's the opposite. Like, you want a bigger, smoother one. How do you cut it? Cut it in half. We'll first cut the cucumber in half lengthwise. You can remove the seeds like this. This way, there won't be as much water. Then, we'll cut out most of the core. There's not much to do here. This cucumber is pretty good. It's not too old. How do you know if it's old? If the seeds are still there, it means it's old. Why do you need to remove the cucumber seeds? Because there's a lot of water in the cucumber. If you remove the seeds, there won't be as much water. If there's too much water, the seasoning won't taste as good. It won't taste the same as before. Now, let's cut the cucumber. We'll use a knife to cut the cucumber. It's harder to cut with a knife. Watch out for the knife. Now, it's time to smash with our cleaver. Like this. After smashing, we'll cut it into strips. After smashing, we'll slice at a slight angle Into roughly 1-1.5-inch thick pieces. Put the cucumber in a bowl. If you don't have a cleaver like this, You can use anything heavy, like a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin. What's the difference between smashing and just chopping? The cucumber is firm, so it doesn't taste as good when it's marinated. When you smash it, the cucumber is loose. But when you cut it, it's not loose. It doesn't taste as good when it's marinated. It doesn't taste as good when you eat it. It's the same here. You can just smash it. If smashing the cucumber causes it to split like this, My dad likes to just cut it in half again And cut in pieces at even more of an angle. What's the difference? If it splits, you can just cut it at an angle. See? It's longer, right? If you cut it like this, it's shorter. If you cut it like this, it's longer. My dad likes to have longer slices, Which is why he cuts at an angle. When you're using a cleaver, you have to change it. You don't have to cut it horizontally. It depends on the shape of the cucumber. For more tips on how to use a cleaver, Check out our comprehensive masterclass On Chinese knife techniques in the Canto Cooking Club. To get access, learn more at club.madewithlau.com Is this normally eaten with the cucumber skin on, Or can you eat it without the skin? If you don't have the skin, it doesn't taste as good. The skin is soft. You can just peel it off like this. Just peel it off like this. Once we're done cutting the cucumber, We'll move on to the bell pepper. A little bit of red pepper will do. It adds a nice color to the dish. It's good to eat. It's sweet. We'll use about 1⁄4 of a red bell pepper. Cut it into thin slices. Then we'll also slice it into 1⁄2-inch-thick pieces. How many ounces? About 2 ounces. Now, we'll dice up 2 pieces of green onion. This is coriander. If you don't like coriander, you can skip it. We'll chop up a small bunch of cilantro into inch-long pieces. We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com Along with step-by-step instructions and video clips To guide you as you make the recipe at home. First, we'll marinate the cucumber. We'll add 1 tsp of salt. 1 tsp of sugar. Mix well. Using salt and sugar will pull out the moisture from the cucumbers. Like salt, sugar also draws out moisture from ingredients through osmosis. The purpose of this step is to remove the moisture from the cucumber. This way, when we marinate the cucumber, it'll be more flavorful. Okay, it's mixed well. After a quick toss, we'll also add in the red bell peppers and mix it in. Okay, here it is. You don't need to marinate it for a long time, just 30 minutes is enough. Some people just mix it right away. The water will come out of the cucumber. The cucumber juice will come out. When you eat it, there won't be as much cucumber flavor. As my dad mentions, we'll set the cucumbers and bell peppers aside for 30 minutes To let the salt and sugar draw out the moisture. If you don't have the time, you can skip this step or not wait the full 30 minutes. In the meantime, we'll prepare the garlic for the tasty sauce. For the garlic, we'll use 3-4 cloves. The more cloves, the better. Hold the ends of the cloves and peel them off. We'll first peel the garlic cloves. How do we do this? Some people just pound the garlic like this. But if you pound it like this, it won't be as fine. We'll turn the garlic into a paste by smashing a little bit at a time While holding one side of the clove. Here, use your fingers to hold the clove. Hold it with the back of the knife. This way, you'll have more strength. We'll do the same with the rest of the garlic. Now, we'll chop the garlic. Then, we'll do a quick chop of the paste before moving on. Now, we're done with the garlic. What are we doing next? We'll make the sauce. This is chili sauce. I made it myself. Add 1.5 tsp of chili oil. Wow, the chili oil looks great! Add 1 tbsp of light soy sauce. 1 tbsp of oyster sauce. Add 2 tbsp of vinegar. Teresa from Patreon asked, What vinegar is best for this? You can use white vinegar or white vinegar. You can also use vinegar with a higher concentration. The cheap vinegar won't be as good. It'll have a strong vinegar taste. If you're making vinegar with fermented rice, The vinegar will be better. Add 2 tbsp of sugar. Mix it well. Jim from Patreon asked, What kind of different seasonings and sauces can you use? For cucumber sauce, you can use sour, sweet, or spicy. If you like it sour and spicy, you can add more chili. If you don't like it spicy, you can add less chili. You can also use sesame or peanuts. It doesn't matter. For sauce, you can use sour, sweet, or spicy. Let's try it. Make sure to try your sauce to see if it needs any adjustment. Add 1 tsp of light soy sauce. After adding the sauce, add the garlic. Mix it well. Smashed cucumber salad, or pat woong kwa, Isn't just an appetizer categorically. Its purpose is to get you in the mood to eat. In Cantonese, we describe foods that wake up your appetite as Hoi wai, which literally means to open the stomach. Flavors that we usually call hoi wai are tangy and spicy, Which we achieve here with vinegar and chili sauce. While you can use any type of chili sauce, We're using our homemade version, And you can use the link in our description to check out that recipe. It's time! After 30 minutes of letting the salt and sugar do their thing, We'll drain the cucumbers and bell peppers. Look at the water. Squeeze the water out. We'll press down on the cucumbers and bell peppers To squeeze out any excess water. The water is out. We'll discard the liquid and put the cucumbers and bell peppers Back in the large bowl to get ready to combine everything. Now, add the sauce. Pour it all in. First, we'll pour in the sauce we just made. Add the chopped green onions. Then we'll add in the green onions, and now we can mix. We'll mix it up. We'll shake it well using a plate to cover it, But any sort of lid will work. No need to mix it, just mix it like this. Mix it well so the sauce can be absorbed. After just 30 seconds of tossing, we can add our finishing touches. Now, we'll add in the coriander. If you don't eat coriander, you don't need to add it. Add a little bit of sesame seeds. Add 1.5 tbsp sesame oil. 1.5 tbsp sesame oil is enough. Now, we'll mix it all together. After adding everything, we can do a quick mix and give it a taste test. Is it crunchy? Yeah. How do you keep the cucumber crunchy? If you add vinegar, it'll definitely be crunchy. If you add vinegar to anything, like radish or anything, If you marinate it in vinegar, it'll be crunchy. Finally, we'll transfer everything onto a plate, Making sure to add all of that delicious sauce. Hi everyone! We've finished making the Cucumber Salad. I hope you all enjoyed it. Hong Doy, Mui Mui, let's eat some cucumber! Cheers! Thank you for watching! Subscribe! Thumbs up! That's right, buddy! YouTube thinks you'll like this recipe next. Let's see if they're right. A huge thank you to our wok stars and all of our chefs In the Canto Cooking Club.