Watery vegetables: courgette, cucumber, cabbage

Why

Courgette, cucumber and cabbage are largely water held in cells; salt on a cut or grated surface forms a concentrated solution that draws water out of the cells by osmosis, so droplets appear within a few minutes and juice collects in the bowl over half an hour to a few hours. The water removed then does not dilute the yoghurt in tzatziki, thin the dressing, make fritter batter soggy or sit as a puddle in a bake, and the vegetable stays pliable and pleasantly crisp instead of releasing water on the plate. How much water comes out depends on the size of the pieces and the time: grated vegetables and thin slices release water quickly, thick pieces more slowly, and squeezing in a towel removes the most. Some of the salt runs off with the juice and some stays in the vegetable, so the dish is salted only at the end, to taste (Salting and seasoning card). Water can also be cooked off: grated courgette can simply be sautéed in a wide pan until the juice has evaporated; with aubergine, salting has other reasons too (Aubergine (eggplant) card).

How to do it

• Slice or grate the vegetables, toss them with salt, roughly 3–5 g per 500 g (½ to ¾ teaspoon of fine salt), and leave them to drain in a colander over a bowl.
• Leave grated vegetables for at least 10 minutes, cucumber slices and shredded cabbage for 30 minutes to 3 hours; longer salting adds hardly any more water.
• Then squeeze the vegetables in a clean towel or in your hands, or press slices between paper towels; pour the juice away.
• Do not rinse them unless they are too salty; then dry them thoroughly again. Salt the dish only after tasting.
• For a bake or fritters you can, instead of salting, sauté the courgette in a wide uncovered pan until the released water has evaporated, then let it cool.
• A fresh cucumber salad you do not want to salt ahead should get its dressing just before serving; the salt in the dressing draws water out in the bowl too.

If it goes wrong

Let a watery bake rest after baking and carefully pour off the released juice; next time salt and squeeze the courgette, or sauté it first. Thicken runny tzatziki with more thick yoghurt, or let it drain for a while in a sieve lined with a towel. Thicken fritters that fall apart with a spoonful of flour and fry one test fritter. Briefly rinse over-salted squeezed vegetables in cold water and squeeze them thoroughly again.