Smashed Cucumber Salad - Summer Recipe
Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook Time: 5 mins | Total Time: 15 mins
Quick | Easy | Dairy-Free | Nut-Free | Vegetarian | Vegan |
This delicious, refreshing salad is the perfect summer recipe and only takes 5 minutes to prepare. The ingredients are simple, and yet this salad is packed with flavour and is full of health benefits. This Yin salad is perfect for summer - the most Yang season of the year. In Chinese Medicine, cucumbers are loaded with medicinal benefits - they build Yin, are hydrating and are beneficial for many health conditions.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cucumbers
- 1 small bunch coriander - cut into 1-inch pieces, saving some for garnish
- ¼ red bell pepper - shredded
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp chilli oil
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic - grated
DIRECTIONS
- Peel the cucumbers and cut the ends off. Cut the cucumbers down the center lengthwise into 3-4 pieces.
- Place cucumber pieces into a ziplock bag and smash (gently) with a rolling pin or another heavy object. Remove from bag and cut into bite-sized pieces. Put all into a large bowl.
- Sprinkle cucumber with salt, mix well and set aside for 10 minutes. Then discard the liquid.
- Add coriander, shredded bell pepper and the rest of the ingredients. Still well, garnish with a bit of coriander and enjoy!
TIP
If you want to increase the fibre content of this salad, then leave the skins on the cucumbers. Just be sure to wash them well first. Depending on where they come from, cucumber skins can be covered in wax or have harmful pesticides, so be sure to wash them thoroughly if you are going to leave the peels on.
CHINESE MEDICINE HEALTH BENEFITS
In Chinese Medicine cucumbers have a huge number of healing properties. They are particularly good for soothing any skin swellings or irritations because of their high content of silica, vitamin C and caffeic acid which are important components of connective tissue. Cucumbers also quench thirst, calm irritability, combat oedema as well as treat jaundice, diarrhoea and even epilepsy. A slice of cucumber is able to take the sting out of a bug bite, and cucumber juice is an excellent prescription for glowing healthy skin because of its high water content, and its ability to hydrate the skin - the body’s largest organ. This is one of the reasons why in Chinese Medicine, food IS medicine. :)
Delicious featured image from The Splendid Table.org
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Cooling Cucumber Salad - Summer Recipe
By Emma Suttie, D.Ac, AP
Cucumbers are an important part of Chinese medicine food therapy and are packed with a multitude of health benefits. They are also the perfect food for summer. In Chinese medicine cucumbers are sweet, affecting the spleen, and cooling - helping the body stay cool in the hot weather. They have a high water content and are very moisturizing, helping you stay hydrated in the hot summer months. Cucumbers are also excellent detoxifiers, cleansing the body of impurities which build up no matter how hard we try to avoid toxins in our food and the environment. Cucumbers are great in a salad, delicious pickled, an excellent addition to any juice, and adding a few slices to your water will pack an extra punch of hydration niceness whether you are working out at the gym or on the beach doing yoga. Below is an impressive list of cucumbers health benefits.
Health Benefits
- Clears heat from the body; resolves fevers from summer heat and helps to prevent heat stroke
- Detoxifying
- Anti-inflammatory (most inflammations are due to heat)
- Cleanses & purifies the blood
- Strengthens the spleen
- Relieves thirst
- Benefits the heart
- Moistens the lungs
- Moistens and cleanses the large intestine
- Strongly alkalizing
- Reduces cholesterol
- Treats depression
- Benefits the skin - cucumbers speed healing in the skin and the juice speeds the healing of burns and wounds
- Aids digestion
- Stimulate hair growth
- Treats kidney and bladder infections
- Promotes urination
- Helps with weight loss
- Anti-cancer
- Aids constipation
- Relieves bad breath
- Promotes joint health
- Benefits the eyes (placing cucumber slices over the eyes calms hot, puffy, dry or irritated eyes).
- Kills tapeworms!
Cooling Cucumber Salad - Summer Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cucumbers
- 1 medium white onion (you can also use red onion)
- 1/4 cup vinegar (2oz)
- salt & pepper to taste
Directions
*You can make this tasty salad with the skin on or peel it off, its up to you. There are many health benefits to eating cucumber skin but as cucumbers are sensitive to pesticides, always try to buy organic, or soak them in a little apple cider vinegar which will neutralize the pesticides.
- Peel and cut the cucumbers lengthwise, then slice into 1/4 inch slices (or thinner if you like)
- Slice the onion in half, then slice thin
- Add cucumber and onion to a bowl and mix
- Add salt (I like pink Himalayan salt) & pepper to taste
- Add the vinegar
- Mix thoroughly and serve
This dish actually gets tastier the longer it sits, so you might want to make it a couple of hours before you plan to eat it for maximum deliciousness. ;)
Enjoy!
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If you would like a downloadable information sheet that will tell you all about how to live in harmony with the Summer season in Chinese Medicine, you can find it here - The Summer Season in Chinese Medicine.
