A Crunchy Cucumber Salad

By Hla Myo New

· A Myanmar meal is not complete without a salad of some sort, either sour or sweet and sour. My favourite happens to be crisp cucumber salad generously mixed with roasted sesame and garnished with golden fried onions and garlic. The recipe for it is not too complicated but it takes overnight to make the cucumber crisp.

Ingredients.

Large sized cucumbers 6 Nos.

Ginger 1 stem

Salt 1 teaspoon

Sugar 2 dessert spoons

Fish Sauce 1 Teaspoon or more to taste.

Vinegar 3 Ounces

Onions 4 medium-sized

Garlic 3 pods

Cotton bag (similar to a small pillow case)

· Wash the cucumbers thoroughly and slice off at both ends. Then cut the whole cucumber into three pieces. Halve the cut pieces lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Then cut the halves into ¼ inch thick strips. Slice the ginger and cut again into thin strips. Mix the sliced cucumber and ginger with salt and put the whole lot into cotton bag. Put the bag of cucumbers on kitchen table and lay something heavy on it, such as a stone mortar, or if available put the bag into a press. A stone mortar and pestle are “must haves” in a Myanmar kitchen so we usually use the mortar. Squeeze the bag occasionally to drain the water from the cucumber and leave it overnight.

· Squeeze out the last of the water the next morning and take out the ginger and cucumber and set aside.

· Slice onions and garlic and fry till golden brown.

• Dissolve sugar and salt in the vinegar and pour on to the cucumber together with fish sauce and mix thoroughly with the roasted sesame. Arrange the mixed stuff in a dish and garnish with golden brown fried onions and you have a dish of crunchy cucumber salad, if not fit for a king, at least one which will please the taste buds of even the most picky person.