Cucumber sesame salad

A delicious pan-asian take on a cucumber salad. The sauce is the star of the show here, with its creamy and sweet sesame sauce. Adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi.

Ingredients

• 700 g cucumbers, quartered lengthways
• 1 large garlic clove, crushed
• 2.5 T rice-wine vinegar
• 3 T lime juice
• 2 t sea salt
• 2 T sunflower oil
• 2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced on an angle
• handful of coriander, coarsely chopped
• 2 t black sesame seeds
• 60 g tahini
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1.5 T mirin

Instructions

1. Scoop out and discard the seedy center from the cucumber quarters.
2. Cut cucumbers widthways into 2 cm chunks.
3. Mix the cucumber in a bowl with the garlic, 1 T vinegar, lime juice, and sea salt.
4. Gently heat the oil in a small saucepan until warm, for about two minutes, and then pour over the cucumber. Leave to marinate for two hours.
5. Whisk the tahini, soy sauce, mirin, 1.5 T vinegar, and 2 T water until you end up with a very smooth sauce.
6. Pour the tahini mixture on to a large plate with a lip, so it naturally pools into a circle in the middle.
7. Drain the cucumbers very well, discarding the liquid, then pile on top of the sauce. Scatter over the sliced spring onion, sesame seeds, and coriander, and serve at once.