Chinese Cucumber Rose Salad

This Chinese Cucumber Rose Salad is a light, refreshing, and crisp salad with a simple sweet & tangy dressing and a generous drizzle of homemade chili oil & sesame seeds. Not only is it beautiful to look at but also so delicious to snack on.

THE INSPIRATION FOR THIS CHINESE CUCUMBER ROSE SALAD

This one is inspired by my love for Chinese cucumber salads, that are perfectly crisp and refreshing paired with a delicious dressing. This is best enjoyed freshly made so you get that nice and crisp bite from the thin cucumber slices.

I saw this peeling technique used for zucchini on tiktok and wanted to try it out with cucumber to get these nice, thin slices that's hard to achieve with a knife.

Other cucumber salads:

I have a Spicy Cucumber Salad (recipe here) that’s made by smacking cucumbers for that unique texture but for this cucumber rose salad, I used a peeler to get super thin slices before stacking the cucumber slices, spreading these out, and curving it inwards before curling it to create what I like to call a cucumber rose.

This salad is a delicious starter to accompaniment to your meal. It’s a great palate cleanser too if you’re having a very rich and hearty meal. Pair this with my favourite Spicy Peanut Noodles or even Korean Black Bean Noodles (Jjajangmyeon) or have it as a side dish with your favourite soup or stew.

What kind of cucumber should I use for this cucumber salad?

I recommend to use Japanese or Persian cucumbers because they have thin skins and less seeds, and are great for pickling. 

I used Japanese cucumbers and were already quite wrinkly since they were in the fridge for a week or so already and wanted to use them up. They were still really good and crisp!

THE SIMPLE & LIGHT DRESSING

This is also like a pickling liquid so I guess it doubles as both!

What you'll need:

• distilled white vinegar or rice vinegar, adjust depending on desired acidity
• sugar
• salt
• hot water
• minced garlic
• sesame oil

The full recipe is in the recipe card below :)

Prepare the Dressing

Add the vinegar, sugar, salt in a bowl than pour over the hot water. Mix until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Afterwards, add in the garlic and sesame oil. Feel free to adjust to your taste. If you want more acidity, you can add more vinegar, or more sugar for additional sweetness. If you want more saltiness, you can add a bit more salt. Mix and set aside.

PEEL THE JAPANESE CUCUMBERS

I find that using a peeler is the easiest way to get even thin strips.

• To start: With a knife, chop off the ends of each cucumber.

• Hold the top end of a cucumberand then with a peeler, peel a thin strip, place it on a flat board or plate (I placed mine on a chopping board) and continue peeling and stacking the strips over each other until you’ve peeled both cucumber.

• It may be harder to peel once you get to the bottom skin, so for this I actually set this aside and just thinly sliced it afterwards.

SHAPE THE CUCUMBER STRIPS INTO A ROSE

• Carefully spread apart the thin slices of cucumber before curling to the centre to create a rose shape.

• You can use a spatula to transfer the cucumber rose into a bowl. Pour over the dressing.

ENJOY WITH CHILI OIL AND SESAME SEEDS

Add some chili oil for spice, and sesame seeds. You can enjoy this immediately or refrigerate it for 30 minutes to allow the cucumber to sit in the liquid and absorb more of the flavours.

CAN I MAKE THIS AHEAD?

• Enjoy fresh: You can prepare the dressing and refrigerate it a day or even days in advance. You can prepare the cucumber when ready to enjoy, and then just pour in the dressing.
• Soaking ahead: You can preparing this a day in advance and soak the cucumbers in the dressing to achieve a pickled-style cucumber salad. The cucumbers will absorb more of the flavour and still be crisp, but not as crisp as when freshly made.

OTHER ASIAN RECIPES YOU MIGHT ENJOY:

• Vegan Kimchi
• Spicy Cucumber Salad
• Korean Cucumber Salad
• Spicy Peanut Noodles
• Ginger and Scallion Noodles

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