Sichuan Cucumber Three Ways: Hot-and-Sour, Mala and Sesame (Paihuanggua)

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Three versions of Sichuan cucumber salad

Cool as a (Spicy) Cucumber

Sichuan knows how to treat a cucumber: with spice! Here are three cucumber preparations, using three different forms of chili pepper, and resulting in three very different tastes. The first is hot-and-sour and similar to a Western quick pickle with the addition of pickled or fresh red chilies. The second is mala, the smacked cucumber smacking strongly of that incomparable toasty chili and tingly Sichuan pepper taste that makes mala so addictive. And the third is so flavor-packed with chili oil, sesame paste and yacai preserved vegetable that it makes you wonder why you never thought to combine these things with cucumber before.

Yet despite the spice, somehow they all manage to remain cool cucumbers.

We eat the hot-and-sour cucumber pickle as a garnish for bao or an acid offset to a fatty dish such as hongshaorou. The other two cucumber dishes are called 拍黄瓜 (pāihuángguā), or smashed cucumber salad, and are powerful enough to act as substantial side dishes.

halved sichuan cucumbers that have been partially peeled, on cutting board
Smack the lovely cucumber pieces along their backs with a rolling pin or heavy knife to break them down a bit

So let’s get started. First you’ll need English cucumbers, which are relatively seedless but you’ll still want to scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Partially peel each half in stripes with a vegetable peeler. For the hot-and-sour recipe, cut the halves in thin, half-moon slices. This is easiest done with a mandolin if you have one. The other two recipes use smashed cucumbers. Just smack them on the back with a rolling pin or large knife to break the skin and fibers and allow them to absorb more sauce.

chopped cucumbers sitting in strainer
Salting-and-waiting lessens both water content and bitterness

For any of the Sichuan cucumber recipes, you’ll want to salt the cut pieces and let them drain in a colander to remove some bitterness and water from the cucumbers and partially “cook” them. In my testing, I tried at first to skip this step, and the sauce became too watery and diluted and the cucumbers were a little bitter. So give yourself half an hour or more to salt the cucumbers. It also makes for a nicer texture.

Sichuan cucumber waiting a chili treatment
The key ingredients to mala cucumbers are dried chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns toasted in oil plus a dash of Chinese vinegar (clear or black vinegar either one)

The mala cucumbers have just a touch of Chinese vinegar, but are mostly sauced with a bit of heated oil flavored with chilies and Sichuan peppercorns. I used small, hot chilies for this, but you could use larger, milder ones and snip them in half. Don’t be chintzy with the peppers or Sichuan pepper, however, as you want a strong flavor to do the cucumber justice.

While it would be lovely to retain the bright red color of the chilies in the final dish, you really need to cook the chilies and Sichuan pepper enough to release their full fragrance and toasty flavor. Be careful not to burn them though. When the oil is hot and fragrant, pour it over your bowl of cucumbers and mix well.

toasting chilies in oil
The goal is to toast the peppers until they smell super fragrant but are not burned
Sichuan mala cucumber
Mala on the plate, with Sichuan chilies and Sichuan peppercorns

For the sesame cucumbers, you’ll need a couple of specialty items, namely Chinese sesame paste and the Sichuanese preserved mustard green stems called suimiyacai. This is a fantastically unique combination along with some black vinegar and fresh garlic.

ingredients yacai and sesame paste
Cucumber + sesame + yacai, oh my!

I adapted the sesame cucumber recipe from Chinese cuisine authority Fuchsia Dunlop; it appears as a variant of her smacked cucumber recipe in Every Grain of Rice. It’s far too special, however, to be seen as a second choice—especially after it gets a drizzle of homemade chili oil.

Sichuan sesame cucumbers
Chili oil is the crowning touch

I’ll admit now that these three recipes show my bias, since the most popular cucumber dish in China is probably smashed with lots of fresh garlic. But since no one in my family likes to eat too much raw garlic—we prefer our spice in the form of chili pepper, as you can tell—I’ll direct you to Maggie’s recipe at Omnivore’s Cookbook for the classic paihuanggua with garlic.

Sichuan Cucumber Three Ways: Hot-and-Sour, Mala and Sesame (Paihuanggua)

By: Taylor Holliday | The Mala Market | Inspiration & Ingredients for Sichuan Cooking
Smacked Cucumber With Sesame adapted from Every Grain of Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop

Ingredients 

  • 1 medium English cucumber per recipe/flavor about 11 ounces, or two cups chopped
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Hot-and-Sour:

  • 1 or 2 fresh or pickled red chilies thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup Chinese clear rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • ½ teaspoon sugar

Mala:

  • 1 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar (Sichuan Baoning preferred)
  • 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
  • 6-8 dried red chilies left whole or snipped in half and retaining their seeds for extra heat, depending on the heat of your chilies and your desired heat
  • ½ teaspoon whole Sichuan pepper

Sesame:

  • 1 tablespoon Yibin suimiyacai
  • ½ tablespoon Chinese sesame paste (Mala Market organic sesame paste preferred)
  • 1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar (Sichuan Baoning preferred)
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • ½ teaspoon minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons chili oil with crisp

Instructions 

  • For any of the three recipes, prepare cucumber by using a vegetable peeler or knife to partially skin the cucumber with vertical stripes. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Cut the cucumber in half vertically. For the hot-and-sour cucumbers, use a mandolin or sharp knife to cut the cucumber halves into 1/8-inch slices. For the mala or sesame cucumbers, smack the two cucumber pieces along the back with a heavy knife or rolling pin until they start to break down a bit and the skin starts to crack. Cut in half again vertically and then diagonally into bite-size pieces.
  • Put slices or pieces in a colander and mix well with 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Let sit and drain for 30 minutes. Pat the cucumbers dry with a clean towel or paper towel and transfer to a bowl.
  • For the hot-and-sour cucumbers, add the sliced fresh or pickled chilies to the cucumbers. Mix the rice vinegar, water and sugar together and pour over the cucumbers and chilies.
  • For the mala cucumbers, add the 1 teaspoon vinegar to the cucumbers. In a small sauce pan or wok, heat the oil over medium heat until slightly hot and a test Sichuan peppercorn starts to sizzle. Add the peppercorns and cook until they sizzle and smell very fragrant. Add the dried chili peppers and toss quickly, allowing them to get toasty but not burned. Immediately pour the oil and peppers over the cucumbers and mix well.
  • For the sesame cucumbers, mix the yacai, sesame paste, vinegar, sesame oil and garlic together well in a small bowl. Combine with the cucumbers and mix well. Drizzle the cucumbers with the chili oil and its crisp.

Tried this recipe?

About Taylor Holliday

The Mala Market all began when Taylor, a former journalist, created this blog as a place to document her adventures learning to cook Sichuan food for Fongchong, her recently adopted 11-year-old daughter. They discovered through the years that the secret to making food that tastes like it would in China is using the same ingredients that are used in China. The mother-daughter team eventually began visiting Sichuan’s factories and farms together and, in 2016, opened The Mala Market, America’s source for heritage Sichuan ingredients and Chinese pantry essentials.

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14 Comments

    1. Yes, contrary to my usual offerings, they are vegan, gluten-free and almost even paleo. But I just make them because they are good. 🙂

  1. The Japanese/Hawaiian version of these with sugar, vinegar and Momoya kimchi base with hot steamed rice is one of my favorite comfort foods. Trying these today.

  2. Wow! I made the sesame cucumbers for breakfast today, and they were *amazing*. I can see lots of other things that would benefit from that yummy sauce, so I’m going to experiment.

    Thanks so much for a new favorite!
    Alyce

    1. So glad to hear that, Alyce! I agree with you about that sauce. It might be good on noodles, eggplant…. Let me know what you come up with!

  3. Excellent recipes on cucumber. I grew up eating the hot and sour version but I am definitely curious about the sesame one with yacai. Can’t wait to try this soon!

  4. After you salt the cucumbers and let them sit, do you rinse them before making the rest of the recipe?

  5. For me and my Taiwanese boyfriend, a tasty riff on Fuchsia’s sesame cucumber variation! It was admittedly tilted towards the là side. Next time, we’ll try just 1T of the chili oil to get more flavor from the lácài in the dish. Xiè-xiè, Taylor.