Cucumber Salad Recipe
A refreshing chopped cucumber salad loaded with peanuts, spices, toasted coconut, and chiles.
I have two new cookbooks on my desk. Two books to really dive into. Tender V.1 by Nigel Slater, and How to Cook Indian by Sanjeev Kapoor. Today's Cucumber Peanut Salad was my first foray into Sanjeev's book and it doesn't disappoint - chopped cucumbers, spices, toasted peanuts, coconut, and green chiles come together in a refreshing but surprisingly substantial salad.
A Special Cucumber Salad
After my book signing in Berkeley recently, I was invited by the shop to choose and take home any book I liked. How to Cook Indian was it. I tucked the massive orange Indian volume under my arm, went home, and spent hours the next morning tagging recipes - so many! Today's cucumber salad was one of them. I took a few liberties with it based on personal preference and the ingredients in my kitchen. I mean, that's how I approach many recipes. I don't always have all the ingredients on hand, but I try not to let that deter me. Instead of trying to get thing perfectly "authentic" or as written, I like the spirit of winging it a bit, based on what I think will taste good within the general framework of a recipe.
That's what you see here. So, for this cucumber salad - I didn't have the fresh coconut Sanjeev calls for, but I did have big, dried coconut flakes. I knew I could toast them, and they'd be great- so I went with it. I like to leave some of the peel on my cucumbers - so that is what you see here. That sort of thing. If like me you I forgot to grind the peanuts, whole peanuts are great here too.
What Kind of Cucumbers Should I Use?
You have options! I grow multiple types of cucumbers in our garden. Favorite varietals for a cucumber salad like this include Japanese cucumber, lemon cucumber, Persian cucumber and English cucumber. Select cucumbers with healthy looking skins, and a plump, tense feel overall. You don't want limp, sad, dehydrating cucumber. A long way of saying that choosing a great cucumber can be more important than the type of cucumber.
The perfect salad for a hot summer day. Pair this cucumber salad with whatever you have coming off the grill, it goes beautifully with so much. We've enjoyed it alongside kebabs, grilled quesadillas, veggie burgers, and tofu burgers.
Premium Ad-Free membership includes:
-Ad-free content
-Print-friendly recipes
-Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest recipe collection PDF
-Weeknight Express recipe collection PDF
-Surprise bonuses throughout the year
Cucumber Salad
You can prep all the components ahead of time, but don't toss the salad until just before serving. If you do the peanuts will lose their crunch because the cucumbers give off a good amount of water. If you use two chiles and leave the seeds/veins in - this is quite a spicy salad, so feel free to adapt for your tastes. You can just use one chile, and if you're still worried, remove the seeds and veins. It can be made vegan by substituting sunflower oil for the ghee.
- 3 medium cucumbers, partially peeled
- 1-2 green serrano chiles, stemmed and minced
- 1/2 cup / 2.5 ounces / 70 g peanuts, toasted
- 1/3 cup / 1.5 ounces / 45 g dried large-flake coconut, toasted
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon natural cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon, ghee, clarified butter, or sunflower oil
- 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
- scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- a handful cilantro, chopped
-
Halve the cucumbers lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, and chop into pieces roughly the size of pencil erasers. Just before you're ready to serve, transfer to a mixing bowl and toss gently with chiles, peanuts, coconut, lemon juice, and sugar.
-
Over medium heat melt the ghee in a small skillet. When hot stir in the mustard seeds. They are going to sputter and spit a bit, and when this starts to happen, add the cumin for 15-30 seconds, just long enough to toast the spices. Cover with a lid if needed. Remove from heat, stir in the salt, and immediately stir this into the salad. Turn out onto a platter topped with the cilantro.
Serves 4.
Adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor's Cucumber Salad {Khamang Kakdi) in How to Cook Indian. Published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, April 2011.
Related Recipes
Cucumber Gin Slush
A blended, gin-spiked cucumber slushy for the hottest of days. They're refreshing, easy-drinking, with a kiss of limoncello.
Garlic Lime Lettuce Wraps
Ginger and garlic tempeh rice, folded into lime-spiked lettuce wraps with lots of herbs, cucumber, and carrots. A one-pan meal that comes together in no time!
Joshua McFadden’s Cucumber Salad
A ringer of a cucumber salad. The main players: cucumbers, ice-bathed scallions, toasted walnuts, mint, rose, and a vinegar-spiked yogurt dressing. I've been adding a scoop of lentils and making a meal out of it all week.
Super Natural Vegan Sushi
This is homemade vegan sushi made with sweet potato fries, seasoned tofu, avocado, kale chips, and a whole grain sushi rice blend. A quick kiss of strong wasabi-spiked soy sauce is my preferred dipping sauce.
Simple Bruschetta
Good tomatoes are the thing that matters most when it comes to making bruschetta - the classic Italian antipasto. It is such a simple preparation that paying attention to the little details matters.
Post Your Comment
Comments
Wow interesting combination of ingredients! I wouldn't have thought of that on my own, but it looks beautiful. Sounds like a fun twist on a summer cucumber salad.
I'm not typically a huge fan of Indian food, but this looks so good. It looks l ike it has great flavor and texture combinations.
What a great combination of ingredients! I'm ready to eat this salad right now for breakfast!
This looks like an awesome snack! Thanks for sharing.
It's great when you come across a cookbook you wouldn't normally choose, and end up loving it. Gotta shake things up and try something new sometimes. Thanks for sharing, I look forward to your coverage of Nigel Slater's book- LOVE him!
What a perfect salad for spring! Although I have a romaine/spring mix salad for lunch today, this will definitely add some extra excitement to other lunches! You have proved to the world that eating healthy isn't BORING! Thank you!
Yummy, this looks amazing. Love cooking with peanuts
This seems to be the perfect combination of cooling veggies for summer with warming spices to keep the salad bright and interesting. For those with peanut allergies, I would recommend using shelled and toasted sunflower seeds to get a similar crunch and toasty flavor (not quite the same peanutty flavor quality of course). I also like sunflower seeds as a cheaper alternative to pine nuts, which seem to cost as much as gold these days. HS: Great idea Abbey.
This looks fantastic - love the serranos in it. With all of your recipes I have bookmarked, I need to take a year and cook everything Julie/Julia-style. :)
You magically always sort out dinner, Heidi. It is a unique gift of yours. I agree with your attitude on styles of cooking I don't know much of, like the Indian one. I don't want to completely change the flavours, but traditional recipes can still be a great inspiration without tracking down the ingredients to the latest exotic one. By the way this is something I often do with your recipes as well since I have trouble finding mexican ingredients, which you use quite often. It works, most of the times!
It might be time I join the group, I have never even experimented with Indian inspired dishes (I'm probably the only one....) - what better time than now! This looks like a great welcome to the summer salad season!
Wow, what a totally unique and delicious-sounding salad! I love this!! And pretty, too :)
Looks divine. Will be my mother's day gift to myself! Yummy refreshing lunch while the chaos of children swirl around.
What an interesting combination of ingredients! All separately I enjoy, so why not together.
For those of us with peanut allergies, which nuts might make acceptable alternatives? HS: Someone else suggested sunflower seeds, which I thought sounded like a great idea.
i've never really been one to love cucumbers, but i have to say that this sounds incredibly flavorful and refreshing!
How fun to walk around after your book signing and pick out a cookbook! This salad dish looks delicious. The crunchiness of the cool cucumbers and the peanuts would be a nice combination. I find main courses easy enough but finding sides like this is good too.
Heidi this looks delish!! I love cucumbers AND I love peanuts or anything peanut sauce related. This is perfect for me. I also won Helen of Tartlette's give away for your book and I posted about it a couple days ago...but just wanted to thank you so much for the book. It's amazing, beautiful, and you inspire me SO MUCH. Your recipes, your photography, your accomplishments..I want to be like you when I grow up :) HS: Thanks for all the nice words Averie - your cinnamon-sugar chickpeas look really intriguing! Might have to give those a go.
Why have I never thought of this?! Genius!
What a nice combo of flavors!