Friday, May 13, 2005

A Great Summer Side Dish

I knew a certain someone who really loves this side dish! It is really good, whether you make it right before you sit down to eat, or hours before. And super duper simple.

Sweet Chile Cucumbers
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

2 cucumbers, seeded & thinly sliced
1 fresh hot red chiles, thinly sliced
10-15 fresh mint leaves-thinly chopped
2 cups rice vinegar (approximately)
4 teaspoons sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Peel (optional) and Seed the cucumbers. To seed, slice cucumbers in half-lenghtwise, use a teaspoon and scrape the seeds out of the cucumbers. You’ll have a “U” shaped cucumber half, slice thinly, about an 1/8 of an inch.

Combine the cucumbers, chiles, and mint in a mixing bowl.

Pour in the vinegar to just cover the cucumbers, sprinkle with the sugar, salt, and pepper.

Toss everything together so the cucumbers are well coated with the vinegar.

Refrigerate; the cucumbers will soften as they marinate and the flavors will deepen, the longer they sit.



Some additions could include diced tomatoes and/or thinly sliced red onions. Anything you can think of?

1 comment:

Dancer in DC said...

Control the heat by the amount of chiles you use. Also you can go hotter by using dried mint, but I think the flavor of fresh mint is so divine with this dish, you can't substitute it!