Cucumber Salad

One of my very favorite Thai dishes is the cucumber salad that comes alongside satay. I know it's practically a garnish, but I adore it.
Old roomie, McD, was coming over for dinner earlier this week and I knew he'd enjoy the SB pork satay and I knew I had everything I needed at home already - major bonus. I also knew I had a cucumber and a half - excellent. * Mr. Burns fingers *
I asked McD to grab a red onion and some cilantro on his way over and we were in business.

Cucumber Salad
1 1/2 cucumbers, sliced thinly
1/4 of a red onion, sliced very thinly
3-4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp Splenda (don't inhale while opening or closing the package or you'll get a lung full)
3 dashes of sesame oil
3 dashes of chili oil (or to taste)
1-2 tsp soy sauce (or to taste)
cilantro if you have it and like it

Of course I'm trying to use muscle memory to recall how much of everything went in as I glugged and dashed it into the bowl, but please keep in mind that I am in my 30s and I drink, so I cannot promise this is entirely accurate.

You can probably mix up all of the dressing ingredients first, so they're well blended, then add in the cukes and onion, but I threw everything into the bowl as I thought about it and it still worked out well, so you just go ahead and do whatever feels right. I let it sit for about 20 minutes as I prepped and cooked the satay, stirring periodically to make sure everyone got sauced. This is probably enough to make a decent sized side dish for four people, but two of us ate the hell out of it.

Pork Satay

This one goes out to all my homies that think satay can be way too sweet sometimes. Also to Duane, who I think would come over to my house for dinner every day if I promised to make this for him (despite being reluctant at first). It's another South Beach Phase 1 recipe. Proof yet again that this diet does not SUCK, you naysayers!

Pork Satay
1/4 trans-fat-free peanut butter
1/4 c water
1 tbsp plus 1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 lbs pork cutlets (about 3/4" thick), cut lengthwise into 1/2" strips
4 metal skewers (if you don't have metal you can use wood, just be sure to soak them really well in water so they don't burn in the broiler)

Heat oven to broil.
Whisk together peanut butter, water, vinegar, soy, garlic and red pepper flakes in a mixing bowl. Place pork in a separate mixing bowl and add 1/4 cup of the dipping sauce, toss to coat. (I may have added more than that to coat all my pork - use your judgment). Reserve the remaining sauce for dipping or to spread onto the satay once it's cooked.
Thread pork onto skewers and broil 4 minutes per side. Coat with reserved sauce or put sauce in dipping cups and serve alongside pork.

A garnish of cilantro or sesame seeds would be good if you're cooking this for guests or you like cilantro. Mmmm.

To go alongside, I planned to make Sesame Green Beans, but realized too late that I didn't have any more sesame oil. What else was there to do but douse my cooked beans in Sriracha, soy sauce and garlic powder? They were good and went really well with the skewers.