One of our favourite ways to eat cucumber is to make a Chinese smashed cucumber salad to eat as a starter or side dish. Cut the cucumber in to 5 cm discs (don’t peel or deseed it). press on the edge of the disc with your hand until the disc smashes into pieces. Salt liberally and put in a colander with a weighted plate on top for about 30 minutes to drain off a lot of the juice (and much of the salt). make a dressing with crushed garlic, white pepper, sesame oil (not too much - it’s for flavour only), rice wine or cider vinegar, a little light soy to taste. toss the cucumber pieces through and serve straight away or within the next hour. You can add herbs like Thai basil or coriander.
