Cucumber Abundance – Thai Cucumber Pickles

As the summer heats up, the cucumber vines in my garden lengthen, with yellow blossoms at their ends. There are male and female flowers, the females with tiny fruit just below the petals. Over a week or two, the fruit grows, enlarging into a full size cucumber.

I devote almost an entire four by eight foot raised bed just to cucumbers, with a few dozen plants climbing a trellis and spreading out their leaves to gather as much sunlight as possible. With this many plants, in a good year, I get piles of cucumbers from mid-July through August, and into September if I’m lucky. Such an abundance results in the not very serious problem of figuring out how to use them all.

Fresh-picked cucumbers are at their prime sliced into spears with just a sprinkling of salt, only bested, perhaps, if you slice them with a knife that you just used to chop garlic. We eat them plain like this almost every day in mid to late summer. But with a good harvest, I need to find alternative ways to serve cucumbers.

When there are guests invited for dinner, I might prepare fancy punch glasses of Cucumber Gazpacho with Lemon Yogurt, cool and creamy, perfect on a steamy summer night. Smashed Cucumbers with Chili Oil make the perfect foil to a spicy Chinese meal. Of course they can be pickled to use at a later date. And in really abundant years, I share them with friends, family, and neighbors, whomever we might run across.

But one of my favorite ways to serve them is diced into Thai Cucumber Pickles. Chilled, sweet, and tart, these quick pickles make the perfect accompaniment to a spicy Thai meal, Green Curry, in particular. The rich coconut milk curry, a warm and spicy stew that causes a bead of sweat on your upper lip as you eat it on a sultry summer evening, is balanced by the acidity of the cold pickles. In the same way that yogurt raita tames a spicy Indian meal, these pickles provide relief when the curry is too fiery for your tongue.

As summer heats up and the cucumbers mature in the garden or appear piled high at the local farmers’ market, find new ways to enjoy the abundance. Why not make Thai Cucumber pickles as a quick addition to dinner? Simple and easy to prepare, it is the perfect side to any summer meal.

Thai Cucumber Pickles

I have always enjoyed the small bit of diced cucumber pickle that accompanies many dishes in Thai restaurants, yet it took me years to find a suitable recipe to make at home. This recipe, which I love, is based on one from the New York Times. The cucumbers become soggy if left in the liquid too long, so it does not make for great leftovers. However, the recipe is easily doubled or tripled if you’re serving a crowd, and you can always make extra brine for the next day and add just-sliced cucumbers immediately before serving. As some in my family are not fans of raw onion, I usually leave out the red onion or shallot.

serves 3, 10 minutes active, plus an hour for chilling

⅓ cups sugar

⅓ cups white vinegar

⅓ cups water

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes or finely minced fresh Thai (birds eye) chili

1 large cucumber or 2 Kirby cucumbers, peeled, large seeds removed

1 Tbsp. shallot or red onion, thinly sliced or diced (optional)

2 Tbsp. roasted peanuts, chopped

2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Combine the sugar, vinegar, water, and salt in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for a minute or two until somewhat warm. This will make it easier to dissolve the sugar and salt. Stir until they are completely dissolved to make the brine. Add the crushed red pepper flakes or fresh chili, and place in the refrigerator until chilled, about an hour.
2. Slice the cucumber into ¼-inch disks, and cut each disk into half-moons or quarters. Place them in a serving bowl. Top with shallot or red onion, if using, chopped peanuts, and cilantro. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Just before serving, add the brine to the bowl of cucumbers. Serve as a side dish in small bowls or saucers.

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