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Thai cucumber salad

Asian Cucumber Salad

  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 5
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 2 as a side dish 1x
  • Category: Salad
  • Cuisine: Thai

Description

This fresh-tasting Asian-style Cucumber Salad can be made in five minutes.   The cool crunchy cucumber is enhanced by chilli heat and the sweet-salty dressing.    

I like to eat this kind of salad in January, after the culinary excesses of Christmas and New Year, when its freshness and strong, zesty flavours are especially welcome – as is the fact that it can be thrown together in five minutes!  However, it is just as good on a hot summer day.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cucumber
  • Half a fresh red chilli, finely chopped (or 1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes)
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 2 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce 
  • 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • Juice of half a lime

Instructions

  1. Peel the cucumber to remove the dark green outer skin.  Chop into the cucumber into chunks.  I find the easiest way to do this is to cut the cucumber in half lengthways and then slice each half into 1 cm chunks.
  2. In a glass or ceramic bowl combine the finely chopped red chilli (or dried chilli flakes), crushed garlic clove, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar and lime  juice.   Do not use a metal bowl as this may react with the ingredients.
  3. Add the cucumber chunks to the ingredients in the bowl and mix well.

Notes

This salad can be eaten immediately.  However, I think the flavours improve if it is left in the fridge for several hours.    It also keeps well in the fridge for several days.   

You can make a vegan version of this recipe by replacing the fish sauce with extra soy sauce.

Keywords: cucumber, thai, salad