Premise
This garnish way will be very easy and quick for any long shaped vegetable. You can use a carrot or a zucchini instead the cucumber which I am using here.
YOU WILL NEED
- A curved blade or straight blade paring knife
- A bamboo stick
- Optional: some decoration small leaves
- Optional: a small sauce bowl
Practice
This article will show you a very quick food decoration in five minutes. There are more articles to show you easy food garnishes, please see Easy food art with spinach leaves and Easy vegetable carving.
1. Make a stick pierce through the centre
You will need to prepare a bamboo stick that is longer than a baby cucumber you will curve. After that, take a bamboo stick to pierce through the centre of it. The bamboo stick is a tool to prevent you over cutting the radius of the baby cucumber.
2. Trimming the spiral
To start, cut into one end of the cucumber as in the left side image. Then in one continuous cut, continue around the circumference of the cucumber in a spiral shape from one end to the other. Make the first-round cut with a 35 to 45 degrees angle. Keep cutting until you finish the first circle, you will go past the start point with a gap.
While you are cutting, you should always keep 1 to 1.5 cm width between each cut. If you have a better skill, you are able to make the distance between each cut narrower. My suggestion if this is your first time, you should keep a wider gap to prevent it from breaking.
After four or five times around, you will need to straighten up the bamboo stick. In order to stack the cucumber spirals that you have done up, and prevent them from breaking because they are loose.
Keep processing the circle cutting till the bottom of the baby cucumber.
3. Bent the spiral into a circle
When you have done all cutting, lay down the entire baby cucumber gently. One hand is holding on the bamboo stick, the other hand is holding one end of the baby cucumber. Push it out from the bamboo stick.
When you take out the baby cucumber from the bamboo stick. It looks complete externally. However, the internal of baby cucumber is totally separated.
You are able to hold on both ends of the baby cucumber to extend it right now.
Remove off the very the end of both heads from the baby cucumber. As such, take the first ring from both ends to connect each other together. You will get a spiral circle.
Payoff
When you have done the cucumber spiral circle, you are able to place a small sauce bowl with sauce inside of the circle. The sauce bowl should not that big to break the cucumber spiral circle. However, you will need a certain diameter and weight to extend it. It is a good idea to garnish with some small leaves around it to make it look more delightful.
