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Dish of the week: Holubtsi

13 Cucumber Recipes From 10 Cuisines.

Cool, crisp and mostly water — which is exactly the point. Cucumbers carry the refreshing side of world cooking: tzatziki in Greece, sunomono in Japan, raita in India, quick pickles everywhere, and the simple salted cucumber salads of Eastern Europe that appear beside every heavy summer meal. Salting and draining them first keeps sauces and salads from going watery within the hour. Smaller, thin-skinned varieties have fewer seeds and better crunch, and smacking a cucumber before dressing it — the Chinese way — helps it drink the dressing.

13 recipes on this route

The recipes.

Bowl of yellow spiced pickled vegetables — carrot, cucumber and cabbage batons — dusted with ground peanuts and sesame

Malaysia13 hr 15 min

Acar Awak

Nyonya Spiced Pickled Vegetables

Split Vietnamese baguette filled with pâté, sliced pork roll, orange carrot pickles, cucumber and cilantro sprigs

Vietnam1 hr 25 min

Bánh Mì

Vietnamese Baguette Sandwich with Pâté and Pickles

Shallow bowl of loose Turkish cacık with grated cucumber, dried mint and a drizzle of olive oil on top

Turkey40 min

Cacık

Chilled Turkish Cucumber Yogurt with Mint

Gado-gado platter of blanched vegetables, boiled eggs and fried tofu coated in warm peanut dressing

Indonesia55 min

Gado-Gado

Indonesian Salad with Peanut Dressing

Glass of chilled coral-pink gazpacho topped with diced cucumber and green pepper, olive oil drizzled on top

Spain3 hr 20 min

Gazpacho Andaluz

Chilled Spanish Tomato Soup

Silvery cured herring fillets on a paper tray with a heap of finely chopped raw onion and sliced pickle

Netherlands48 hr 25 min

Hollandse Nieuwe

Dutch Cured Herring with Raw Onion

A horiatiki Greek village salad of tomato, cucumber, olives and onion topped with a whole slab of feta

Greece15 min

Horiatiki, the Real Greek Village Salad

Paper cone of jhal muri — puffed rice tossed with chopped onion, green chile, cucumber and peanuts

Bangladesh15 min

Jhal Muri

Bengali Spicy Puffed Rice Snack

Bowl of Polish cucumber salad, thin slices coated in sour cream dressing and scattered with chopped dill

Poland45 min

Mizeria

Polish Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream

Bulgarian shopska salad in a shallow bowl, diced tomato and cucumber hidden under a thick mound of grated white cheese

Bulgaria25 min

Shopska Salata

Bulgarian Tomato, Cucumber and Sirene Salad

Bowl of chilled white tarator soup with grated cucumber, chopped dill, crushed walnuts and a drizzle of oil on top

Bulgaria1 hr 20 min

Tarator

Bulgarian Chilled Cucumber Yoghurt Soup

A bowl of thick white tzatziki dip topped with olive oil and dill, with pita bread alongside

Greece1 hr 15 min

Tzatziki

Greek Yogurt, Cucumber and Garlic Dip

Every recipe on this route.

All 13 of them, alphabetically, with the country each one comes from.

MYAcar Awak
VNBánh Mì
TRCacık
IDGado-Gado
ESGazpacho Andaluz
NLHollandse Nieuwe
GRHoriatiki, the Real Greek Village Salad
BDJhal Muri
PLMizeria
BGShopska Salata
BGTarator
GRTzatziki
VNVietnamese Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce

also known aspersian cucumber, english cucumber

common in