Grandma’s cucumber salad
Cucumber salad in its classic variant.
The way my grandmother used to prepare it for me.
Fresh, with a sweet and sour dressing and a little spiciness from the onions. For us, always a small moment of happiness.
Preparation time
20 minutes
Servings
for 2 persons
Kitchen know-it-all
" Peel cucumber?
And: If yes – in which direction?
OK – this discussion may take longer. Enclosed are a few arguments to spice it up.
The cucumber is not BIO: Then it must be peeled!
Washing thoroughly is not enough here: I’m not overly panicky about contaminants, but I do pay attention to what I’m ingesting. Pesticides and weed killers have no place in grandma’s cucumber salad….
The cucumber is BIO: do not peel!
As in many other vegetables, the majority of vitamins and other nutrients in the cucumber are in the skin. The more colorful, the more insoluble fiber, which helps keep the intestinal tract healthy.
The cucumber peel contains bitter substances – so peel carefully.
Well – also such a point. Some kitchen know-it-alls think: cucumbers can contain bitter substances. Especially at the stem end.
Aha … However, it is not always so easy to see where the cucumber started and stopped growing (thinner and thicker stump). Therefore, he said, you should peel the cucumber from the middle to the ends …
It is true that, like vitamins, fiber and nutrients, bitter substances are also found under the skin. The cucumber absorbs it from the soil on which it was grown. So the peel is not necessarily bitter. One can therefore proceed according to the above-mentioned BIO/non-BIO rule. And the peel of the BIO cucumber quite simply try … If it tastes bitter, I peel the cucumber.
Honestly – I don’t give a damn about the peeling direction.
Grandma’s cucumber salad …
… awakens childhood memories in me. I loved my grandmother’s cucumber salad. The dressing is sort of my primal experience of the sweet and sour taste. And by the way, I was allowed to discover that fresh herbs are something great in the kitchen. Dill is one of my favorite herbs and my inner child is horrified to discover that it is not used fresh.
A freshly prepared cucumber salad brings up images from my childhood:
A simply furnished kitchen, a wooden table, a huge glass bowl, my grandmother – wearing her blue smock as always – vigorously stirring it with her wooden cooking spoon….
And I see myself as a four-year-old toddler:
After I’ve eaten the whole cucumber salad, I lift this large and heavy glass bowl to my mouth and drink up this wonderful salad dressing.
Thank you for these beautiful memory moments, Grandma!
Ingredients
- 1 cucumber (BIO)
- ½ red onion
- 6 tablespoons olive oil (extra virgin)
- 2 tablespoons herb vinegar
- 2 tablespoons tap water
- 2 tsp sugar
- ½ bunch dill
- Salt
The cucumber salad fits …
… e.g. to plaice Finkenwerder type, actually any kind of fish.
Preparation
Prepare cucumber
Wash and peel the cucumber (see above: kitchen know-it-all).
Cut the cucumber into thin slices – slicing is best.
Marion cuts her cucumbers with a peeler, so she gets the slices thinnest.
Salt cucumber slices, set aside and let stand.
Prepare dressing
Cut red onion into small cubes and place in a bowl.
Add oil and vinegar.
Stir in sugar. I use brown sugar exclusively. You can also use white, it dissolves faster.
Add water to tone down the intensity of the vinegar a bit.
Set 2-3 dill stalks aside.
Pluck the remaining dill tips and add.
Stir dressing vigorously.
Taste and fine tune with sugar, water or salt if necessary.
Bringing things together
Pour dressing over cucumber slices.
Stir well.
Add the cucumber salad 10 min. let pull.
Garnish with a few stalks of dill.
