One of Cliff’s favorite cuisines is Thai food. He LOVES pad thai. We go to a local place and for about $9 he gets enough pad thai for dinner and 2 lunches. I like Thai food but there are only a few dishes that I will eat. Pretty much just rama chicken and the cucumber salad they serve as a side. Our local place has a really great scallop appetizer that I like as well. It is sautéed scallops with a lemon soy-sauce sauce. Last time we were there I ordered the scallop appetizer and the cucumber salad. I was expecting a small salad of cucumbers, carrots, red onions, (which I, of course, would pick out) and a tangy dressing. But this salad has an unexpected component. Crab meat. I knew right away that we would need to recreate the salad.
The crab at our local place was actually just imitation crabmeat. Honestly, I don’t have a problem with imitation crab meat; I actually really like it! But being as though I am a partner in a food blog I thought I might lose some street cred if I put out a recipe with imitation crabmeat. If you don’t mind a little imitation crabmeat once in awhile then feel free to use it. I actually thought it looked nicer than the lump crabmeat I got from the butcher.
Also, the dressing is a little fussy. Once you heat the sugar and vinegar let it cool for about 5 minutes and then mix it with the rest of the salad. When the dressing first touches the cucumbers it kind of seizes up. But don’t worry once it mixes with the water from the cucumbers it will be just perfect. If you let it sit in the pot too long the sugar will harden. Just reheat it over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. I really enjoyed this salad. If you don’t like sweet food, you may not like it though. You could adjust the amount of sugar and add more sriracha to make it less sugary and spicier. For me, it was perfect!
Here is what you’ll need
Slice the cucumbers
And the carrot and onion too
Heat the sugar and vinegar until the sugar is dissolved
It should be clear and syrupy like this
Add the sriracha
Assemble everything and coat with the dressing
Just like the salad at a Thai restaurant!
Thai Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 1 hothouse cucumber
- 1 carrot
- 1/2 red onion
- 1/2 cup lump crabmeat (or imitation crab meat)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 tsp sriracha
Instructions
- Peel the cucumber and slice it thinly. Peel the carrot and cut into matchsticks. Thinly slice the red onion. Combine cucumber, carrot, red onion, and crabmeat in a bowl. Heat the sugar and vinegar in a small saucepan over low heat. Allow the sugar to dissolve and the sauce to thicken. Remove from heat. Do not burn the sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved add the sriracha and allow to cool about 5 minutes. Pour over the cucumbers and mix.