Smashed Cucumbers with Turmeric, Coconut, and Peanuts

Watery vegetables like cucumbers can be tricky to season — dressings slip right off and get watery as the vegetable sits. But by smashing the cucumbers, which is common in Chinese cooking, you end up with little nooks and crannies for seasonings to settle into. In China, you’ll see the cucumbers aggressively flavored with garlic or chili oil. Here, we turn to another heavy-handed way to season: a tarka.

In Indian cuisines, a tarka is a technique where whole and ground spices sizzle in hot oil; the spices bloom and the oil helps carry the spices’ flavor throughout whatever it touches next. A little bit of coconut oil takes on the earthiness of turmeric and travels into the nooks of your cukes. By sizzling dried coconut and peanuts in the oil, too, they toast and add a welcome crunch to the mix.

You can adjust the spices in your tarka based on what you have on hand (mustard seeds; whole or ground cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, or cumin; curry leaves; and fresh or dried chiles would all be great here). If you’re worried about watery cucumbers diluting that well-seasoned oil, fear not: By draining cucumbers in salt before they’re dressed, most of their water goes away, leaving you with just cucumber-y cucumbers.