Chinese home cooking

Mala Cucumber with Garlic and Chile Oil

Name: Mala Cucumber with Garlic and Chile Oil
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: cucumber; as needed salt; dried chile strips; garlic slices; ginger; Sichuan peppercorns; tingling peppercorns (麻椒); cooking oil; 4 spoonfuls light soy sauce; 3 spoonfuls vinegar; 1 spoonful oyster sauce; 1 spoonful sugar; a little MSG

麻辣黄瓜

Salted cucumber is tossed with garlic and a cooked peppercorn-chile dressing for a spicy, tingling cold dish.

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Published 2026-10-12

Cucumber chunks with sliced garlic and dried red chiles. — Mala Cucumber with Garlic and Chile Oil

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Ingredients

Quantities are included where specified in the original recipe.

cucumber
as neededsalt
dried chile strips
garlic slices
ginger
Sichuan peppercorns
tingling peppercorns (麻椒)
cooking oil
4 spoonfulslight soy sauce
3 spoonfulsvinegar
1 spoonfuloyster sauce
1 spoonfulsugar
a littleMSG

Spoonfuls retain the Chinese recipe measures 勺/匙. Small and large spoonfuls retain 小勺 and 大勺; their volume is unspecified and is not converted to teaspoons or tablespoons.

Step-by-Step Instructions

01
Soak dried chile strips in water. Cut cucumber into chunks, remove the seed core and salt for 30 minutes. Prepare plenty of garlic slices and some ginger.
02
Heat oil over low heat with both types of peppercorns and ginger. Add the soaked chile strips and fry until golden and lightly toasted, then turn off the heat.
03
Let the oil cool slightly, then add light soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, sugar and MSG.
04
Squeeze moisture from the cucumber without rinsing. Add the garlic and dressing and toss. The source suggests chilling for 2 hours as an optional finish.

Illustrated Cooking Guide

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English-captioned photographs showing ingredient preparation and cooking for Mala Cucumber with Garlic and Chile Oil. — Cooking illustration 1 · Open full size ↗

Cooking Method

Cold Tossing

Recipe card