Required Ingredients
Main Ingredients: 2-3 fresh, tender home-pickled cucumbers (must be the ones with blossoms and spines for the best crunch!)
Seasonings: A. 1 tablespoon salt
B.White vinegar: 5 tablespoons, Rock sugar: 1 piece (walnut-sized), Honey: 1 tablespoon, MSG: ½ teaspoon, Dried red chili peppers: 4 (broken into small pieces)
Detailed Steps
1. Rinse the pickled cucumbers, cut into finger-thick segments about 8 cm long. Place in a clean container, mix thoroughly with salt, and set aside.
2. Combine all ingredients from B in a small bowl. Stir until well blended and set aside until rock sugar dissolves completely.
3. After about 20 minutes of salting, the pickled cucumbers will release a lot of liquid. Drain this liquid, then pour the prepared B seasoning mixture over the cucumbers and toss to coat evenly.
4. Refrigerate overnight.
Flavor Profile
Tangy with a hint of sweetness, moderately spicy, refreshingly cool, and appetizing.
Key Steps
1. Use rock sugar and white vinegar exclusively—avoid granulated sugar and rice vinegar/aged vinegar, as they won't achieve the desired crisp, clean flavor.
2 When salting the pickled cucumbers, avoid excessive salt, as it will compromise the final sweet and crisp flavor.
3 This cold dish is refrigerated during pickling, making it ideal for summer consumption. Based on my experience at Duyichu, pickling for over two days yields better results while maintaining hygiene.Marinating for just one day still yields excellent results.
4 Unlike other cold dishes, this recipe omits sesame oil to emphasize its completely oil-free, refreshing quality.
Preparation Method
Wash the small cucumbers and drain thoroughly.
Wash the green peppers and score them with a knife to help absorb flavors. Slice the ginger into thick pieces. Arrange the prepared cucumbers, green peppers, and ginger slices in a small bowl.
Pour soy sauce into a pot, add star anise and cinnamon bark, and bring to a boil over high heat.
Once the simmered soy sauce has cooled completely, pour it over the cucumbers and peppers in the bowl.
In a separate pan, heat oil and add Sichuan peppercorns until fragrant.
Pour the hot Sichuan pepper oil over the cucumbers in the bowl. Marinate for 24 hours before serving.
Tips:
1. Thoroughly drain cucumbers and green peppers after washing.
2. Adding a small amount of water while boiling the soy sauce reduces saltiness.
3. For large cucumbers, slice them lengthwise before cutting into long strips to enhance flavor absorption.Homemade pickled cucumbers contain an enzyme that breaks down vitamin C. Since they are often eaten raw, this enzyme remains active. When consumed with vitamin C-rich foods like chili peppers, the enzyme can degrade the vitamin C in those foods. While harmless to health, this reduces the body's absorption of vitamin C.
Nutritional Benefits
Homemade pickled cucumbers are rich in protein, carbohydrates, vitamin B2, vitamin C, vitamin E, carotene, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and other nutrients. Additionally, they offer beauty benefits: their mild, dehumidifying properties help tighten and reduce skin wrinkles, with particularly noticeable effects on darker skin tones.Homemade pickled cucumbers represent a common method of cucumber preparation. Salting removes excess moisture while preserving crispness, resulting in a sweet-and-sour flavor with moderate spiciness. Cool and refreshing, they stimulate appetite and aid digestion.