It seems that the cucumbers always last a little longer than tomatoes, better surviving the shortened days of sunlight. This sadly limits my days of my favorite Tomatocumber Dollars. Enter, the infinite plethora of cucumber salads. The 70s southern ones have that sour cream mixture served in a grandma bowl. A decade later brought the still-popular onion-tomato-cucumber mixture, dressed in some rendition of a vinaigrette. Yet, the most imperial are the Asian versions, typically mild and served in a modest cup in a Thai or finer Chinese restaurant. Epcot’s Nine Dragons Restaurant has upped the ante on this, infusing the crisp cool with a contrasting bite of heat. Much like a September day.
Back from the USSR
After spending two weeks in the former Soviet Union, Captain Bacon will hardly touch a cucumber. Apparently, his diet had consisted only of 25 different cucumber recipes and table vodkas. In fact when I picked him up at ATL, the first thing that he requested was a Big Mac. So, invariably, this gives the current abundance of late summer cucumbers an even greater urgency.
Yet, when I make Epcot’s Nine Dragons Cucumber salad, he finds it nearly unrecognizable as a food of Russia’s old St. Petersburg, and we get a pass. Whatever is left behind in this serves as a healthy and delightful lunch for me for a couple of days. It also makes for a lovely and colorful side dish, easily taking the place of vegetables for many cuisines. And yes, it really loves to go camping.
One of these things is not like the other
Now, here’s what you need to know about cucumbers – they are not all the same. The original Epcot recipes calls for Kirby cucumbers, which is basically a pickling cucumber. This means that it will not have the waxy coating that is on the “regular” cucumber in your grocery store. A wax coating will not allow the marinade to absorb as well. So, if you’re not using fresh garden cucumbers, then make sure to choose pickling cucumbers at the market.
As for adaptations, I much prefer rice vinegar to white vinegar for an Asian salad. I’ve also been more generous with the hot Sichuan peppers. You can make it spicier by squeezing the juice and seeds a little out of the pepper before serving. The more juice and seeds, the hotter.
Epcot's Nine Dragon Spicy Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 2 Kirby or pickling cucumbers
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil c
- 4-6 dried Sichuan peppers easy to find in Mexican grocery section
- 1 cup rice wine vinegar can substitute white vinegar
- 1 cup sugar can reduce to 3/4 cup
Instructions
- Wash, dry and dice cucumbers into bite-sized pieces of your preference.
- Lay cucubers out on cookie sheet and sprinkle with the salt. Let set at least 20 minutes to pull out water. Use kitchen towel or paper towel to soak up some of the moisture.
- Lightly saute the peppers in the oil for about 3-5 minutes until they soften up and turn a darker red in color. Don't overcook.
- Combine sugar and rice wine vinegar in a pot and bring to a simmer until the sugar melts. Add the peppers and remove from heat.
- Pour mixture over the cucumbers. Refrigerate and let marinate for at least 2 hours.
- Taste, and if not spicy enough, squeeze one or more of the peppers so that the juice and some of the seeds come out. Do it just one pepper at a time - the heat comes on fast!
