If you're a real fan of Thai-style satay, then you know that no satay is complete with just a peanut sauce. Satay *MUST* be had with the ajaad or Thai cucumber relish. I've seen Thai restaurants outside of Thailand serve satay without it. This does nothing but make me scream inside. Although it's true that, when done right, the satay meat and peanut sauce are already good. But if you want to have satay the Thai way and enjoy it even more, you need the good old ajaad. Eating satay without this cucumber relish for us Thais is like going to work without wearing shoes!
That said, satay isn't the only one thing we eat with ajaad. In Thailand you can also see this sweet and sour condiment accompanying Thai pork toast, Thai fish cakes, and Thai yellow curry. If you love these dishes and ever decide to make them yourself, don't forget to make ajaad to enhance the flavors of them!
A Bit About The Chilies
We usually use the kind that isn't super hot to make ajaad and, as far as colors go, you can use red, green, yellow or all of them to make your ajaad pretty. As much as we love heat in our food, we add chilies to the ajaad only to give it a mild kick. So when you're out shopping for some chilies for you ajaad, remember it's not supposed to be super hot. Unless you want it to be, of course. 🙂
Try my Thai pork toast with this ajaad recipe!
Ajaad - Thai Cucumber Relish to Go with Satay Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 shallots sliced
- 1 cup cucumber cut in half and sliced
- sliced chilies any kind and as many as you prefer
- 1½ cups water
- 3 ⁄4 cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons vinegar
Instructions
- Over medium-low heat, dissolve the sugar in the water and add vinegar.
- Stir until thickened up and remove from heat to let cool.
- Put the vegetables and a bowl and pour the cooled vinegar mixture over the vegetables when the toast is ready to be served.
Notes
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