How to make din tai fung cucumber salad

This crunchy sweet and sour Chinese Cucumber Salad with a hint of spiciness is a perfect side dish to increase your appetite.

Many of you may have tried the signature Chinese cucumber salad from Din Tai Fung, which is popular for its “light and refreshing” taste “with a hint of spice“.

Crisp Persian cucumbers combined with cuts of mild fresno chili peppers and sliced, fresh garlic—all tossed together with drizzles of sesame oil and our signature Din Tai Fung chili oil.

I like Din Tai Fung’s food overall, but not their cucumber salad.

A cucumber salad should be one of the most representative refreshing dish. Din Tai Fung’s cucumber salad, however, is coated with a thick layer of sesame oil and chili oil, who masks the natural refreshing cucumber aroma.

Therefore, in my cucumber salad recipe, I recommend using dried chili pepper instead of chili oil, so that we can make this dish less oily and as refreshing as possible.

How to cut a cucumber for Chinese cucumber salad

To make the most authentic and traditional Chinese cucumber salad, you need to cut the cucumber into a coir raincoat (蓑衣) shape.

What? The sliced cucumber doesn’t look like a raincoat to you?

That’s because “the earliest forms of Chinese raincoats were made of straw”, and they look like this:

Cutting a cucumber into this particular shape not only makes this dish look fancier, but also increases the surface of the cucumber, so that it can soak up more sauce and become more flavorful.

Looks difficult? ╮(✧ఠ 。ఠ)╭

The trick is to use some chopsticks! They can keep you from cutting through the cucumber. Just use the free chopsticks you get from your last Chinese take-out order, if you worry you will ruin your nice chopsticks.

The cutting will create endless surfaces that will absorb extra flavor from the sauce and enrich the cucumber!

Tips for cutting the cucumber into the authentic “raincoat” shape:

1. Peel off a lengthwise strip of one side of the cucumber, turn it upside down, then peel off a lengthwise strip of the other side. In this way we have created a flat bottom on both side, which makes it easier and safer to cut slices.
2. Place the cucumber on a cutting board, with one peeled surface facing down and the other peeled surface facing up. Place one chopstick on each side of the cucumber lengthwise.
3. Cut the cucumber into 2mm thick slices (a quarter dollar is 1.75 mm thick) from one end to the other, cutting down to the chopstick so that you do not cut through the cucumber.
4. Turn the cucumber upside down. Slice the cucumber with a 45° angle to the center line, cut the cucumber into 2mm thick slices from one end to the other without cutting it through (with the help of chopsticks.)

Give it a try~ It’s not that hard!

Marinate the Chinese cucumber salad

After you successfully cut the cucumber into a masterpiece raincoat shape, marinate it with 3 tbsps of sugar for at least 1 hour to let the juice out.

Most of the recipes online would tell you to marinate the cucumber with salt instead of sugar. While, my dad always uses sugar for this dish, and I have tried both methods and personally definitely prefer the taste of sugar-marinated cucumber.

If you would like to try the salt-marinating method, you can substitute the sugar in my recipe with 1 tsp of salt. And remember to rinse the cucumber thoroughly with cold water after the salt-marinating step.

Sweet, sour, and mildly spicy sauce

If you decide to follow my recipe and use the sugar-marinating method, you don’t need to rinse the cucumber after marinating. Simply drain the sweet cucumber juice, and add the other seasonings (1 tbsp chopped garlic, 1/2 tsp dried chili pepper, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 4 tbsp rice vinegar, 1/2 tbspsesame oil, and 1/4 tspsalt ) to the cucumber after marinating.

Mix well the sauce, cover with food wrap, and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes (ideally overnight) before enjoy.

And don’t forget to make yourself a refreshing cucumber drink with the leftover cucumber juice!

Just soak the sugar-pickled cucumber into your favorite glass with ice cubes and sparking water, or even mix with some alcohol to make it a refreshing cocktail! Here is a Tom Collins cocktail recipe that uses cucumber that looks refreshing.

Top 8 how to make din tai fung cucumber salad edited by Family Cuisine

Crunchy Asian Cucumber Salad – Drive Me Hungry

• Author: drivemehungry.com
• Published: 07/23/2022
• Review: 3.39 (588 vote)
• Summary: 29.03.2019 This Asian cucumber salad is healthy, crunchy, and refreshing! A simple dressing of rice vinegar, sugar, garlic & chili oil. A Din Tai Fung 
• Matching search results: This is a refreshing and crunchy cucumber salad with just the right amount of spice – inspired by the Michelin-rated Din Tai Fung restaurant. Made with garlic, rice vinegar, persian cucumbers, fresno chile, sesame oil and drizzled with chili oil. …