Sesame Cucumber Salad

Simple cucumber salad seems to compliment just about any meal, and when I'm at a loss of what to serve as a veggie side, I often turn to sliced cucumbers of some sort. The "Sesame Cucumber Salad" (page 61) is now among my repertoire of go-to recipes for just such occasions. With only a handful of ingredients, and simple to make, this dish goes together in no time at all. The English variety of cucumbers are used in this recipe, but I think any cucumbers you have on hand would work just as well. The dressing calls for a mixture of sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin, and rice vinegar, but if you want to keep it fat-free, just leave the sesame oil out altogether. The three tablespoons called for would be very dominant both in fat content and the strong sesame flavor. You could probably use ½ teaspoon and still get the flavor essence. In addition to the sesame oil, the salad is sprinkled with sesame seeds (the theme of twos here), so you likely won't miss the oil if you decide to omit it, which is what I did.

 

"Keeping it McDougall Friendly" checklist:

ü Omit the sesame oil when making the dressing. With the moist cucumbers and the remaining dressing ingredients, no substitution is required.