Chinese Cucumber Salad and Celery Onion Pickle

A simple and refreshing accompaniment to any Asian meal. It adds a depth of flavour to the meal and a great way to include some vegetables.

Whenever I include this my guests adore it and everyone believes it rounds off the meal in such a special way.

I particularly love it alongside some crispy pork, or rich, slow cooked lamb as suggested by Neil Perry whose recipes these are based on.

Pictured: Celery and Onion Pickle (left) and Chinese Cucumber Salad (right)

Chinese Cucumber Salad

4 cucumbers
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp castor sugar
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
Pinch salt, pepepr to taste
1 cm knob ginger, freshly grated
Optional - fresh sliced chillies and toasted peanuts

 Celery and Onion Pickle

1 small white onion, thinly sliced lengthways 

50 ml  white vinegar 

50 gm  white sugar 

50 gm  Celery, cut into julienne  - if you can use Chinese Celery

Chinese Cucumber Salad - Seed and slice the cucumbers (peel if required). Mix all remaining ingredients together and toss the cucumbers in the dressing – chill in the fridge til ready to serve.

Celery and Onion Pickle - Combine onion with a pinch of sea salt, toss to combine, stand for 10 minutes, then rinse and set aside. 

Combine vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to the boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Cook until reduced by half (1-2 minutes), set aside to cool. 

Combine Chinese celery, reserved onion and vinegar mixture in a non-reactive bowl, stand for 10 minutes, then serve.

Makes 1 - 2 cups for each pickles