Thai Cucumber Salad

I follow a couple hundred blogs using Google Reader.  Most of them are written by ladies and gentleman that are just like me, amateurs with an interest in making good food for their families and trying to take pretty pictures of said food.  Some of the blogs, however, are really amazing.  Beautiful photography, complicated recipes and writing styles that far surpass my own.

The moral of the story is with these fancy blogs, that I never attempt their delicious-looking recipes.  Many times, the ingredients are too exotic and/or expensive to justify the purchase for (potentially) one dish.  But mainly, I'm intimidated by the sheer awesomeness of these superior food bliggity bloggers. 

Earlier this week, a recipe came around on the fantastic blog Use Real Butter that I could not only handle, but that I knew my family would like, hence this Thai Cucumber Salad was recreated in my own kitchen.  So head on over to URB if you want to see some beautiful food styling and landscape photography, 'cause we all know you ain't gonna find that kinda quality picture takin' in this joint.

Thai Cucumber Salad

Source:  Use Real Butter

Ingredients:

4 T sugar

2 T rice wine vinegar
½ t salt
4 T water
Pinch of red pepper flakes
2 cups cucumbers, roughly peeled, gutted and sliced (1 english or 3 persian)
¼ red onion, sliced thin
¼ cup fresh mint, roughly chopped
¼ cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Directions:

Combine the first five ingredients in a small sauce pan over high heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Let come to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and allow to simmer for one minute. Remove from heat and let cool. Place the cucumber, onion, mint and cilantro in a medium bowl and pour dressing over it, toss to coat.