Smashed Cucumber Salad

Make it step by step

1. Trim the ends off the cucumbers.
2. Lay one on a board, set the flat of a large knife along it and press down with your palm until the cucumber splits open along its length and the flesh cracks.
3. Smash the rest the same way.
4. Pull the split cucumbers apart into 3-4cm chunks, following the cracks rather than cutting across them. The ragged torn faces are the entire reason for smashing: dressing lodges in them, where it would run straight off the polished face of a clean slice and pool in the bottom of the bowl.
5. Toss the chunks with the 6g of fine salt in a colander.
6. Set the colander over a bowl and leave it for 30 minutes, until a good centimetre of water has collected underneath and the chunks look slightly translucent at the edges.
7. Do not skip the drain. A cucumber is almost all water and it keeps leaking after the dressing goes on — skip this and within ten minutes the dressing has thinned into a pale puddle and the salad tastes of nothing.
8. Shake the colander hard, then blot the chunks dry with kitchen paper.
9. Whisk the rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and grated garlic together in a large bowl until the sugar has dissolved.
10. Add the cucumber and turn it through the dressing.
11. Taste before adding any more salt. The chunks have taken up some of the 6g they drained in and the soy brings more.
12. Spoon over the chilli oil.
13. Scatter with the sesame seeds, spring onions and coriander.
14. Serve within the hour, while the chunks still snap.
15. The quick pickled red onions in this collection work on the same principle, salt and acid on a crisp watery vegetable, except that they are made to be kept for a fortnight where this is made to be eaten now.