Food

A magical thing to do with a cucumber

JP McMahon: Cucumber ketchup is the relish you never knew you wanted

‘We are all familiar with cucumber sandwiches, but what about cucumber sorbet or ice-cream?’ Photograph: iStock

JP McMahon's face
JP McMahon
Sun Jul 19 2020 - 00:00

Cultural habits play a larger role than we may like to think in how we prepare food. Over the course of our busy lives we absorb the influences of our family and community and unfortunately apply these to the way we eat. We are all familiar with cucumber sandwiches, but what about cucumber sorbet or ice-cream? We’ll eat tomato ketchup until the cows come home but we seldom, if ever, use cucumber to make ketchup. Why?

Years ago, we had an oyster and cucumber dish on the menu in Aniar. For the cucumber element, we made a granita as well as charring the cucumber on a hot plate and soaking them in Japanese bonito (tuna) vinegar.

If you’ve never tasted a grilled cucumber, I suggest you do so. Simply, cut the cucumber in half length ways, then oil and grill it until black on one side. Brush with your favourite vinegar and allow to cool before cutting it up. Use as you would fresh cucumber, in a salad, sandwich, or summery fish sauce.

How to make cucumber ketchup

All ketchup, whatever the fruit, is a careful balance between sweet and sour components. As I’ve written before in this column, tomato ketchup is a recent enough invention in the history of food, so there is no reason why it cannot be displaced by the cucumber or the gooseberry, however unlikely it may seem. Many cucumber ketchup recipes call for the cucumbers to be peeled and seeded. However, I find the skins and seeds quite palatable so you should make the call on this one.

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To 750g of chopped cucumber, add two chopped onions, two garlic cloves and five chopped celery stalks.

Gently fry in a little oil and add 1tsp mustard seeds, fennel seeds and coriander seeds. Leave for a moment, then add 100g of brown sugar and 100ml of apple balsamic vinegar.

Cook for an hour on a low heat for an hour and then season to taste with sea salt.

The ketchup will keep for a month in the fridge.

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