Refreshing Thai Bruschette

Did you know that plural for "bruschetta" is "bruschette"?

Thai Bruschette have a very light and refreshing taste. They make great appetizers on their own or as part of an antipasto platter.



Ingredients

1 long English cucumber, peeled

1 teaspoon sugar

2 dried chipotle chilies, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes to soften, seeded and chopped

(I used fresh Jalapeño peppers instead of dried chipotle chilies.)

2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded

(squeeze tomatoes gently after seeding to discard the juice) and chopped

1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce

(In my opinion, 1 tbs made the "salsa" taste a bit too fishy. So I added

1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar to ease the fishy taste.)

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

24 1/4-inch-thick baguette slices, toasted

24 cilantro leaves

Preparation

(Makes 24 Bruschette)

Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Pat dry the cucumber halves with paper towel. Slice and chop them in a food processor into 1/8 to 1/4 inch pieces.

Combine cucumbers with the sugar, chilis, tomatoes, fish sauce, rice vinegar, red wine vinegar, and cilantro.

Just before serving, spoon the "salsa" on top of the baguettes, and garnish them with the cilantro leaves.

Enjoy!

Recipe by James Peterson, from his book "COOKING."