Smashed Cucumber Salad with Sichuan Chilli Oil and Black Vinegar

Ingredients

• 4 medium cucumbers (about 800g total)
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 3 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
• 1.5 tbsp light soy sauce or tamari
• 2 tbsp Sichuan chilli oil (with the sediment)
• 1 tbsp garlic-infused oil
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1.5 tsp caster sugar
• 3 garlic cloves, finely grated

Method

1. Lay a cucumber on the board and place the flat side of a heavy knife or cleaver over it. Whack the blade firmly with the heel of your other hand — the cucumber should split and splay open with a satisfying crack. Smashing rather than slicing fractures the flesh into rough, craggy edges, and those torn surfaces are what grab hold of the dressing later. Repeat with the rest.
2. Tear and chop the smashed cucumbers into rough 3-4cm chunks — uneven is exactly what you want. Tip into a colander set over a bowl, scatter with the fine sea salt, and toss to coat. Don't be shy with the salt here — this is your first proper seasoning moment, and it does double duty by drawing water out.
3. Leave to drain for 15-20 minutes. You'll see a surprising amount of liquid pool out — that's the point. Cucumbers are 95% water, and if you skip this step the dressing gets diluted into a puddle within minutes. The flesh should look slightly translucent at the edges and feel firmer to the touch.
4. While the cucumbers drain, make the dressing. In a small bowl whisk together the black vinegar, soy sauce, Sichuan chilli oil (scoop the chilli sediment in too — that's where the flavour lives), garlic-infused oil, sesame oil, sugar and grated garlic. Because the garlic goes in raw, grate it as fine as you can — pulpy rather than chunky — so it dissolves into the dressing rather than sitting in fierce little bullets. Watch it: raw garlic is potent, and a coarse grate will turn bitter and dominate the bowl. Taste: it should hit sour first from the vinegar, then salty, then a slow warm burn at the back of the throat. Most of the salt comes from the soy, but adjust with a splash more vinegar or a pinch more sugar if it feels out of balance.
5. Shake the cucumbers firmly in the colander to throw off any surface water, then tip into a clean serving bowl. Pour the dressing over and toss thoroughly with your hands or two spoons, making sure every craggy edge is coated.
6. Rest for at least 10 minutes before serving — the cucumbers need time to drink in the dressing and the chilli oil needs time to bloom into the vinegar. Don't skip this; a freshly tossed bowl tastes sharp and disjointed, while a rested one tastes layered and round. Taste one last time before it goes out — a final pinch of salt now, not at the table, if it needs lifting.
7. To serve, scatter the toasted sesame seeds across the top, strew over the torn coriander leaves and the diagonally sliced spring onions, then finish with one more drizzle of Sichuan chilli oil straight from the jar so the red slick sits visible on the surface.