This Taiwanese cucumber salad is marinated with sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, chili, and garlic, and the result tastes like pickles had a cousin who is somehow related to kimchi. It’s light and refreshing yet zesty and spicy, and most importantly, it does not taste like grass. I didn’t eat cucumbers as a kid because to me they tasted like absolutely nothing but grass. But THIS? This cucumber salad is packed with flavor and still manages to be so light and refreshing. I just love this cucumber salad with everything in the summer.

I vaguely remember the first time I learned to make this was during a summer vacation at my grandma’s. Every afternoon we’d watch a cooking show together, hosted by a really famous chef who taught people how to make simple, budget-friendly everyday dishes with professional tips and tricks It’s still one of my fondest core memories.

One key trick I picked up for this dish: marinate the cucumber with sugar first to draw out all the moisture, so it soaks up the flavors much faster. For this specific recipe, I also remove the seeds, because cucumbers in Germany are much larger than the ones we have in Taiwan and hold a lot more water. If you leave the seeds in, that part turns soggy and you end up with a not-so-pleasant mushy texture. Of couse you can use the persian cucumbers which are smaller and chrunchier but I use just the regular big cucumbers in the supermarket because it is always available and affordable.

(Just a side note here… The chef later got into cheating scandals that broke the hearts of thousands of fans, mostly moms and grandmas. And I asked my grandma, are you not mad that he is obviously lying about cheating and she was like… yeah well guys do that as if it is acceptable??? 💀 It is literally an old saying in Taiwan to refer to a man cheating as he makes the mistake that every man under the sky makes AS IF IT WAS OKAY???)