Cucumber rougail
This is not a salad and I wouldn't recommend eating it on its own. Why? You may ask. Well, it's spicy! Very spicy. Rougail is a condiment widely used in Reunion Island as a side with rice and cari (which are stews basically). So you'd eat it with rice and cari to spice it all up.
Cucumber, onion, chili, salt and a bit of oil. That's it! You let it all marinate for a short period of time before eating so all the flavors combine and you enjoy the nice kick of the chili in your plate. I love that so much. There are so many variations of rougail, including tomato or lemon rougails.
I am kinda used to eating spicy so I put 5 bird's eye chili in mine but you can definitely adapt the spiciness of the rougail by putting less chilis in. Just keep in mind you'll eat it with rice so it will tone down the spiciness of the chili anyway!
Cucumber rougail (serves 2) :
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1 small onion
- 4-5 bird's eye chili
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
Slice the cucumber and onion as thin as possible.
Put the cucumber in a colander, massage it with a little bit of salt and let it drip for 20 minutes so it is less watery.
Rinse the cucumber and dry it well.
In a bowl, mix cucumber, onion and oil.
Crush the chili with salt with a pestle. Add them to the bowl and mix.
Let it rest at room temperature at least 30 minutes before eating it.
Serve with rice and a cari!