Cucumber salad

• Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp · The flavour engine
• Aromatics, salt, fat (full ingredient list ships with photography)

Method

1. 1

   The core is cucumber, rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic and chili crisp

   Two field cucumbers or one large English cucumber, two tablespoons rice vinegar, two teaspoons toasted sesame oil, one small grated garlic clove, one to two tablespoons chili crisp, one teaspoon soy sauce, a pinch of sugar and salt for draining. That is the whole salad. No mayo, no sugar-heavy bottled dressing.

2. 2

   Use a firm cucumber, Persian, field or a large English one

   You want a cucumber with structure so it stays crunchy after salting. Persian or small field cucumbers are ideal because they have fewer seeds. A large English cucumber works if you halve it lengthways and scrape the watery seed core out with a teaspoon first. Avoid anything soft or rubbery at the ends.

3. 3

   Smash with the flat of a knife, then tear, do not slice neatly

   Lay the cucumber on a board and press down with the flat side of a wide knife or the base of a heavy glass until it splits. Then tear or break it into rough bite-size pieces. The craggy torn surface is what grips the dressing. Neat rounds look tidier but the dressing slides straight off them.

4. 4

   Salt and drain for 20 minutes, this is the step people skip

   Toss the smashed pieces with half a teaspoon of salt in a colander set over a bowl and leave for 20 minutes. The salt pulls out the water that would otherwise dilute your dressing. You will see real liquid come out. Give it a shake halfway. This is the difference between a crisp salad and a watery one.

5. 5

   Pat dry before dressing

   After draining, tip the cucumber onto a clean tea towel or paper and pat it properly dry. Skipping this is the most common reason a smashed cucumber salad goes soupy on the plate. Dry cucumber takes dressing like a sponge; wet cucumber sheds it.

6. 6

   Mix the dressing separately, then toss

   Whisk the rice vinegar, soy, sesame oil, grated garlic and pinch of sugar in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves. Add the chili crisp last so the crunchy bits stay intact. Pour over the dry cucumber and toss with your hands so every craggy edge gets coated. Taste before adding any extra salt, the draining salt is already in there.

7. 7

   Rest 10 minutes before serving

   Give it ten minutes covered at room temperature. The garlic mellows from raw-sharp to savoury, the chili crisp oil blooms into the vinegar, and the flavours marry. It is genuinely better after the rest than straight from the bowl. Top with toasted sesame seeds and sliced spring onion to finish.

8. 8

   Store dressed up to two days, undressed up to four

   Dressed, it holds two days covered in the fridge and stays crunchy because the cucumber was already drained. If you want to make it further ahead, salt-drain and store the cucumber dry in a sealed tub for up to four days, then dress on the day. Do not freeze, cucumber turns to mush.