Great Cukes of Fire

As my recent salsa post demonstrated, this Labor Day was a celebration of all things spicy (but not too spicy, as hot things make me cry like a little girl), and if you're anything like me, when you hear spice, you think "cucumbers"! No? Just me? Whatever.

Ok, in all honesty, I chose to add this recipe to my repertoire for two reasons:
1) I'm a cucumber fanatic. Cucumbers are almost as high up as corn on my list of things placed on this planet as proof that we are meant to be happy.
2) I saw a recipe for an enhanced version of the traditional boring cucumber salad that seemed suitable to my tastes.

Now since no stolen recipe would ever be complete before I have a chance to completely tweak the hell out of it, I stole the concept from the aforementioned recipe and then modified it with what I felt were improvements at the time. In retrospect, the original might be better in some regards, but I stand by my decisions. For those who are interested, compare the original recipe with my own; the alterations are rather apparent.

Better Cucumber Salad
(adapted from the Flexitarian Menu)

Ingredients
2 Medium cucumbers
2 Medium carrots
1 Bunch green onions
1 Medium yellow onion
4 Cloves garlic, minced
2tsp Sugar
1 Lime's worth of juice (about 1/3c)
2tsp Rice vinegar
1tsp Cayenne pepper
1/4c Chopped mint leaves (fresh, if at all possible)

Procedure
1) Slice the carrots and cucumbers into rounds as thin as possible (doesn't have to be translucent; just try to get them thin).

I like using a ridiculously large knife for such exercises.

2) Chop the yellow onion into half-circles (i.e., chop in half, then slice thinly) and soak the sliced results in cold water for about 10 minutes. This process reduces the harshness of the onion flavor; you can omit it if you don't mind the bite they bring.

3) In a large bowl, mix the sugar, lime juice, vinegar, pepper, garlic, and mint.

4) Add the carrots to the mixture and mix thoroughly.

I did the carrots first in hopes that the acids in the liquid would soften them a bit. This didn't work, of course.

5) Slice the green onion and add it along with the cucumbers to the bowl and mix again.

6) Strain the yellow onion slices and add them to the bowl. Mix thoroughly to get all ingredients coated with the flavorings.

Lessons Learned
My guests loved the flavor of the salad, but mentioned that the carrots were a bit tough to manage. In my next attempt, I'll try to lightly sautee the carrots in some butter until they *just* start to soften, and then use them as I did above. The idea is to get them to be only slightly crunchier than the cucumbers themselves. Still, I consider this recipe to be a great success, and it will indeed be repeated in the future.