Recipe: Cucumbers in Sour Cream
From: The Vegetarian Epicure
Serves: 4-6
4-5 medium cucumbers
1-2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sour cream
1 Tbsp. minced fresh chives
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill
1 clove garlic, crushed
freshly ground pepper, to taste
Peel cucumbers, quarter lengthwise, and scrape out seeds. Slice strips at an angle into even little disks about 1/8 - 1/4 in. thick. Add salt, mix well, and set aside for 1 hr. Rinse cucumbers thoroughly and press out excess liquid.
Stir in sour cream, chives, dill, garlic, and pepper. Chill at least 1 hour, stir again, and serve.
Notes:
The original called for 1-1/2 Tbsp. salt, but I found it awfully salty; even with the reduced amount make sure you rinse the cucumbers well. If you don't have fresh dill, use dried dill weed, and reduce to 1 Tbsp. Dried chives are okay too but keep the quantity at about 1 Tbsp.
If you're short on time you can omit the salting and rinsing step, which is meant to get excess water out of the cucumbers. Reduce salt substantially (maybe 1/2 tsp. total) and simply stir all ingredients together and chill at least 1/2 hr. It's much more watery this way but still tastes good - my SO has made it like this when he forgot to start it earlier.