Thai Cucumber Salad with Lime Dressing – all the things I love about Thai recipes in one salad! Sweet, salty, sour with a little spice … these are the hallmarks of Thai cuisine and are the inspiration behind this Thai Cucumber Salad with Lime dressing!
The other day I was digging through my fridge looking for things to use up and spied a few cucumbers. “Hah!” I thought… I’d make a cucumber salad.
But I wasn’t in the mood for my standard cucumber salad – you know the one I’m talking about… cucumbers, tomatoes, some red onion and a balsamic style dressing. Good, but predictable and…. at this point in the summer, a little boring. So I dug around some more and found a shallot, some ginger and garlic and thought I’d make something a little spicier and grabbed a few limes and a bottle of fish sauce.
After playing around with proportions I came up with a Thai style relish of sorts. Although it has all the classic ingredients of a Thai dipping sauce or dressing it isn’t as thin and so I’ve dubbed it a relish.
What you’ll need for Thai Cucumber Salad with Lime Dressing:
- cucumbers
- fresh mint
- cilantro
- dried coconut
- peanuts
What You’ll Need for the Lime Dressing:
- fresh lime juice
- shallots
- ginger
- fish sauce
- serrano or jalapeno chile
- brown sugar
How to Make Thai Cucumber Salad:
- This salad couldn’t be easier to make! You could certainly cut the cucumber into a small dice, but I really love the look of cucumber ribbons!
- I made the ribbons using a vegetable peeler and slicing down the length of the cucumber.
- Speaking of cucumbers, use either persian cucumbers or an English hothouse cucumber (the ones wrapped in plastic wrap at the grocery store). Regular cucumbers have too many seeds and the skin is too tough!
But whatever you choose to call this – lime dressing or a “relish” it’s good – and I’ve been slathering it on all kinds of things – grilled fish, grilled chicken and on greens with some cooked shrimp. I haven’t tried it yet, but I am sure it would be terrific on some cold rice noodles as well.
Soon enough I’ll be eating the heartier, richer fare of fall.. but until then, I’ll be slurping down this salad.
Looking for some other salads to get you through summer? Why not try…
Like this recipe?? If so, please leave me a comment and rate it!
Thai Cucumber Salad with Lime Dressing - all the things I love about Thai recipes in one salad! Sweet, salty, sour with a little spice ... these are the hallmarks of Thai cuisine and are the inspiration behind this Thai Cucumber Salad with Lime dressing!
- For the Relish:
- 2 shallots minced
- 1 serrano chile minced with seeds removed
- 1 inch fresh ginger peeled and minced
- Juice of 1 1/2 limes about 3 Tablespoons
- 2 Tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp. dark brown sugar
- For the Salad:
- 4 persian cucumbers
- 1/4 cup Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 Tablespoon shredded fresh mint
- 1 Tablespoon shredded coconut
- 2 Tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts
- For the relish - combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
- For the salad: thinly slice the cucumbers using a mandoline or a vegetable peeler.
- Add 3 Tablespoons of the relish to the cucumber and toss. Taste and add more of the relish if needed/desired.
- Divide the cucumber between two plates. Garnish with cilantro, mint, coconut and peanuts. Serve.
I definitely want to try this, Nancy!!! Just pinned it.
Thanks Mary Ann – it’s very refreshing – I feel very virtuous when I eat it!
How delightful and intriguing and beautiful!
Awww… thanks Cathy!! Sometimes our experiments in the kitchen pay off!!