The recent abundance and variety of cucumbers had me stumped. 
I wanted a simple recipe that was healthy and would go with fried fish, lechon kawali, a soupy curry or even a bowl of lentils with sausage. I decided to do a variation on my mom’s old cucumber salad recipe. Until age 10 or so, I think I avoided all vegetables with the exception of cucumber salad and atchara (picked papaya). Recently, I noticed another cook from the Visayas making a cucumber salad very similar to my mom’s and when I asked her what she called the dressing she said “Visayan Vinaigrette†– it cracked me up so much I have adopted the name for this totally simple recipe. Take some cucumbers and slice them up. If using only the ridged larger variety, de-seeding them will make them seem crisper. Peel if you like but I didn’t peel the smaller varieties. I also used the English variety and gherkins and they were nice and crisp.
Make a dressing that has apple cider vinegar, some sugar, salt, black pepper, 
chopped red chillies and some chopped dill and pour over the cucumbers and refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving. The chillies and dill gave this dish some zing and flavor. The little cucumbers were really crisp. If I did it again, I wouldn’t mix the larger ridged variety with the smaller cucumbers as the texture differential was not the best thing. However, I have really taken to the English cucumbers because they have thin skins, crisp flesh and a fresh flavor. This salad would go well with anything fried, a strong curry or a bowl of legumes. My mom’s old dressing recipe was even simpler: Del Monte vinegar, a little ketchup, some sugar, salt and pepper…
6 Responses
Something to try..will call it visayan cucumber salad ala marketman. My aunts sliced their cucumber thinly I would say as thin as paper. My other aunt would scopped the inside and serve it like little Cs.But I agree with you it was
simplier just like your mother’s.
I prefer the thinner sturdy cucumber I dont like the fat watery ones… Never mixed mine though.
are these cucumbers sold by piece or kilo?
weird I cannot remember ever in my life having seen dill in Phils.
Interesting! I just make mine with vinegar, salt and pepper. Gotta try it with that dill!
reserve 2 slices for tired eyes.
tired eyes without the vinaigrette though ;-)
Same here, schatzli (or Schatz :)), have yet to see dill back home. Anyway, Marketman, with yoghurt and lots of crushed garlic, try making tzatziki dip with your cucumber and add finely chopped dill.
Schatzli you can buy by piece or by kilo. There is a reasonable amount of dill in Manila now. Other herbs getting more common too. Cucumber on eye trick works because it is 90% water and if from the fridge, cool. A small face towel that is damp and placed in the fridge for a few hours is equally soothing on the eyes, eyebags… Virgilio, good idea for the dip. I also chop cucumbers, add yoghurt or sour cream and chopped dill and serve this with Indian curries.