Hello pickle

Carrying on with the Asian adventure, I have a small, simple but very tasty recipe for a Chinese cucumber pickle. It's super fast to make and best of all, it will be ready to eat within hours. It can also keep up to 5-7 days, though you will find it gets a bit more salty and slightly shrivelled with age. I served it along with some Taiwanese pork bao but you can use it with lots of Asian dishes. It's great as an accompaniment with dumplings, rice and vegetables, skewers or sushi, it really is a good all rounder. I was told this was the best of the whole meal, even above the meaty goodness. 

Chinese style cucumber pickle

1 English cucumber, chopped in to bitesized pieces. 

3 tbsp soy sauce (light)

3 to 4 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar 

2 tsp sesame oil 

1 tsp dried chilli

1/2 to 1 tsp sugar 

Put all the ingredients in to a Tupperware dish or sealable bag. Mix together and leave to sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours. You will see the cucumber start to take on the colour of the soy and shrink slightly. The longer you keep it the more salty and spicy it will get. Enjoy.