Sunday, July 27, 2025

Cucumbers

My father in law regularly gives us leftover produce that he receives from relatives and other people when he visits his village. Because you can not let a guest leave empty handed, no matter the circumstances! So all you have is abundance of produce, that's a perfect gift for your guest. The thing is though, my father in law could never finish all that produce he gets. I mentioned the tomatoes he received the other day, that was around 10 kg and enough for around 6 L of tomato sauce. 

This time he was gifted a big amount of cucumbers. Which, to most people, is a bit more of a challenge than tomatoes, because after all- you're not just eating mounds of salad, are you? It's a challenge for me as well, but not in a negative way. Cucumbers have so much potention! It's been years already since discovering that cucumbers are not merely a salad food; you can prepare them in so many ways. Just because a cucumber is only known as a raw food, doesn't mean that's the only way to eat it. Most people might be unaware of this but you can boil and fry cucumbers; not to mention pickling and fermenting to extend their shelf life even more. There's so much to choose from. This is yet again an instance of having to think outside the box if you want to be resourceful. 

Today, I decided to simmer the majority of the cucumbers in a light broth. Boiling plainly without any seasonings is possible too, but that bit of seasonings make a big difference. I chopped the cucumbers in half circles, washed them, then combined them in a pot with some water and my seasonings: vegetable bullion cubes, ground parsley, ground onion, some red pepper flakes, a spoonful of tomato paste, and garlic paste. I let it simmer for about 20 minutes and let it cool down. 

There are still some more cucumbers left, which, after making more salad, I'll probably pickle. It's been very long since I had a properly pickled vegetable so that might be worth a try. 


Tunisian cucumbers look quite wonky 🙃


I had some of the cucumbers for dinner, with rice and seitan (it was leftovers night today...), and I really enjoyed it. I'll probably have some for lunch tomorrow, but with chickpeas instead of seitan. It does a taste a bit like cooked courgette/zucchini, although not exactly the same, but it comes close. 

Anyway, if any of my readers finds cucumbers at a good price... Make sure to at least try cooking it, especially if you like squash. 

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Cucumbers

My father in law regularly gives us leftover produce that he receives from relatives and other people when he visits his village. Because yo...