Cucumber | RecipeTin Eats

My favourite Avocado Salad

Nagi — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 04:52:27 +0000

This is my favourite avocado salad. Cooling cucumber with creamy avocado, tangy lime juice, fresh herbs and my secret ingredient – a pinch of red pepper flakes which keeps things interesting!

Avocado Salad – most requested recipe 2023

This is just a great simple recipe for a salad that stars avocados. Actually, it’s the single most requested within my circle of friends in recent times because Australia’s been enjoying a terrific avocado season this year. Cheap, ripe, abundant, big!

So here’s my current favourite avocado salad. A combination of ingredients that just works together so well. I love how the avocado becomes sort of smeary when you toss it, essentially becoming a creamy dressing.

Ingredients in avocado salad

I call this an avocado salad though there’s actually more cucumber in it than avocado. It’s designed to hero avocados but we can’t really just make a salad using only avocados. Lacks texture, and too rich! It would be like having guacamole and calling it a salad. (Not that I’m suggesting I have an issue with that!).

Avocados – big and ripe!
Cucumbers – I’m using regular cucumbers here (we call them Lebanese cucumbers), that are around 17cm/7″ long. If using the long telegraph / English cucumbers ~30cm/12″ long, use 1 1/2.
Red pepper flakes (chilli flakes) – Adds the tiniest hum of warmth which goes so well with the cooling cucumber. It’s my “secret ingredient”! But feel free to leave it out.
Red onion – Just a quarter, finely sliced, for freshness.
Fresh herbs – Dill and coriander/cilantro works so well here. One of my favourite herb combinations. Makes this salad even better, but I happily make it without. Put it this way – I wouldn’t make a special trip to the shops to get them unless I was making this for company!
Lime juice and extra virgin olive oil – For the dressing. No need to shake it up today, just pour it over and toss! Lemon can be used instead of lime.

How to make avocado salad

The instructions for this recipe as written in our working files says “chuck everything in and toss”. That’s completely accurate!!!

Chuck everything into a bowl – avocado, cucumber and red onion first, top with herbs, then drizzle/sprinkle all the dressing ingredients over. No need to make the dressing separately for this recipe!
Toss well using your hands, gently separating the avocado and cucumber slices. Tumble into a bowl and serve!

This is first and foremost intended to be a side salad. But don’t restrict yourself! Pile and smush onto toast, or stuff into flatbread to make wraps (you’ll see me add tuna and a squirt of sriracha in the recipe video).

Actually, if you dice the cucumber and avocado up a little smaller, it makes a different salsa for stuffing into tacos or scooping with corn chips. The possibilities! How else can we eat this? Share your suggestions below! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

Avocado salad

Recipe video above. This is my favourite avocado salad. Cooling cucumber with creamy avocado, tangy lime juice, optional fresh herbs and my secret ingredient – a pinch of red pepper flakes which keeps things interesting! Doesn't make it spicy, more of a slight cooling hum of earthy warmth.

Course Side Salad

Cuisine Western

Keyword avocado cucumber salad, avocado salad

Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Servings – 6

Calories 229cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

Salad:

2 big ripe avocados , cut into quarters then 1 cm / 0.4″ slices
3 cucumbers ~17cm/7" long, sliced into 4mm / 1/6" rounds (Note 1)
1/4 red onion , finely sliced
2 tbsp dill , finely chopped, optional recommended (Note 2)
2 tbsp coriander/cilantro leaves ,roughly chopped, optional recommended (Note 2)

Dressing:

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp lime juice , or lemon juice (or more, adjust to taste!)
1/4 tsp chilli flakes / red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp cooking / kosher salt

Instructions

Put all the salad ingredients in large bowl. Drizzle over lime juice and oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and red chilli flakes.
Toss gently using your hands, gently separating the avocado slices as you go. Taste and add more lime if you want.
Tumble into a bowl and serve!

Notes

1. Cucumbers – If using the long telegraph / English cucumbers ~30cm/12″ long, use 1 1/2.

2. Fresh herbs – Fresh dill and coriander adds lovely fresh herbiness but I wouldn’t make a special trip to the shops just to get them! Do it for company

If you’re one of those coriander haters, use an extra 1 tbsp of dill or substitute with parsley.

3. Leftovers will keep until the next day (and the avocado stays green!) but as with most salads, it’s best made fresh.

Nutrition per serving assuming 5 servings.

Nutrition

Life of Dozer

Today’s recipe is so simple there’s more Dozer than avocado salad in the recipe video. The right ratio, as far as I’m concerned!

The post My favourite Avocado Salad appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad

Nagi — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 04:22:56 +0000

If you love cucumbers, or even if you don’t, you have to try this Asian cucumber salad recipe! Smashing is essential to the making and eating experience – it creates crevices for the chunky chilli dressing to nestle in. The perfect combination of refreshing and firecracker heat. OBSESSED!

Spicy cucumber salad

Everybody who knows me knows that I become obsessed with shiny new toys and right now, that shiny new toy is Spicy Cucumber Salad. I’ve been making and eating it obsessively for weeks, sometimes as a meal, defensively using recipe checking as an excuse whenever someone commented on the presence of yet another tub of this in my fridge.

It’s quick to make. An addictive combination of refreshing cucumber with a spicy in-your-face dressing balanced with a generous handful of green onion and eschallots.

I can’t wait for you to become as obsessed as me. Let’s be defensive about our obsession together!

Scared of the chilli? Make Smashed Cucumbers with ginger sauce instead!

This cucumber smashing business

Cucumbers are slippery suckers. Dressing just doesn’t stick to it.

Which is why Asians are so fond of smashing cucumbers. Bash them with a meat mallet, rolling pin or other such heavy object so they burst open a bit. This creates splits and crevices for dressing and other salad add-ins (like green onions, sesame seeds) etc to nestle in. Which means more flavour in every bite. Plus you can salt them which draws excess water out which dilutes flavour when you eat them.

It’s a great technique. It’s effective for eating experience, and it’s fantastically therapeutic. Come home after a bad day at work and bash away!

Ingredients in Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad

Chilli crisp!

We’re welcoming back our old friend chilli crisp that I know you dashed out to get to make the Chilli Crisp Noodles from a few weeks ago. 😂 Adds great crunch from crispy chilli bits, bright red chilli oil and savoury flavour that all comes free in the jar – especially if you get the worldwide favourite Laoganma Crispy Chilli Oil which is popular for good reason. (Pictured below)

Spiciness – Surprisingly not that spicy, it looks far more fierce than it actually is! I can eat (small-ish) spoonfuls of it straight out of the jar.

Find Laoganma Crispy Chilli Oil in the Asian aisle of large grocery stores (Aus: Woolies), else in Asian stores, and read more about this addictive paste in the Chilli Crisp Noodles. Not to be confused with other chilli sauces made by this brand and similar, like Spicy Chilli Oil, Hot Chilli Sauce, Hot Chilli Oil. Look for the word CRISP or CRISPY or CRUNCH!

Other chilli crisp brands – There’s plenty out there, mass produced and boutique ones. Sold under various names but all akin to similar meaning – crispy chilli oil, chilli crunch, crunchy chilli oil, and just plainly “chilli crisp”. Also remember in the States, chilli is spelt with one “l” – chili.

The salad things

Here’s what you need for the salad part:

Cucumbers – Use four cucumbers around 19 – 20cm / 7-8″ long. Scale up or down if yours are larger or smaller. I use four of what we call Lebanese cucumbers here in Australia (pictured) or 2 longer English / telegraph cucumbers which are around 30cm/1 foot long.
Eschallot / French onion – Called shallots in the US, these baby onions are not as harsh onion-y and finer than regular onions. I find them a pain to peel – because they have fine, papery skin – so generally try to avoid them unless I really do think it makes a dish better. In today’s case, I like them because a) we use them raw and b) they flop better rather than being all pokey. Substitute with red onion but slice them extra finely. Maybe use a mandolin.
Green onion – For more freshness in the salad. With all the cucumber freshness and the bold spicy sauce, this salad can can take it. It wants it!
Sesame seeds – Tossed into the salad for extra sesame goodness.

The dressing

And here’s all you need for the very simple dressing. Because the chilli crisp does so much of the flavour heavy lifting here – it has garlic, salt, sugar, oil!

Sesame oil – For beautiful sesame flavour. Use toasted sesame oil – it’s brown and has more flavour than untoasted (which is yellow). Default sesame oil sold in Australia is toasted, untoasted is harder to find.
Rice vinegar – Because it’s an Asian salad, we’re using an Asian vinegar here which is milder than most western vinegars. However, any clear vinegar can be substituted in a pinch because this is not a primary ingredient – ordinary white vinegar, apple cider, champagne vinegar etc.
Soy sauce – The salt in the dressing. Use an all-purpose one or light soy sauce. Don’t use dark soy sauce (too strong) or sweet soy sauce (too sweet).

How to make Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad

Super simple – smash cucumber, salt it (draws out water that dilutes flavour), toss with 3 ingredient dressing and as much chilli crisp as you dare!

Smash and salt

Smashing – Hit the cucumber with a meat mallet, rolling pin, hammer or similar and relish in the stress relief or simply enjoy the fun factor. Hit hard enough to make them split open down the sides but not so hard you squish them into mush.
Cut the cucumber lengthwise down the middle then into 2.4cm/1″ pieces.
Salt 30 minutes – Put them in a bowl then toss with salt. Leave for 30 minutes. The salt will draw out water from the cucumbers which dilutes flavour when you eat them. It also seasons the cucumbers all the way though.
We’re only using 3/4 teaspoon salt here and you’ll be surprised how effective this is for the amount of cucumber we’re using.
Drain and discard the cucumber water from the bowl (too salty to re-use for another purpose). Use a colander if you want to be thorough else just drain it out of the bowl, using your hand to hold the cucumbers in.

Dress & toss

Dressing – Whisk the soy sauce, sesame oil and vinegar in a bowl until it combines properly. You’ll know because it becomes murky and thicker, rather than clear and split.
Dress – Add green onion, eschallots, sesame and dressing in a bowl.
CHILLI CRISP! Add 2 tablespoons of chilli crisp – or more if you dare! You want to get a mound of the crispy chilli – it will be well soaked with the red chilli oil that colours this salad. You can always add more after you toss. Taste and add, taste and add!
Toss well until the eschalots become floppy. Then pile up high into a shallow bowl and serve!

Eat with spoon

You’ll find that the longer this salad sits around, the more water is drawn out of the cucumbers. So a few hours after making / the next day, it looks like the above.

So, my unusual eating advice for this salad is as follows:

Freshly made – The dressing is more intense flavoured and coats / gets stuck in the cucumber crevices better, less/little pooled on plate. Serve and eat with fork.
After few hours / next day – Dressing is diluted from extra water drawn out of the cucumbers. It’s not watery and flavourless, but it’s not as intense as when freshly made. So eat with a spoon like soup to get plenty of dressing in each mouthful. It’s so good!

Enjoy! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad

Recipe video above. If you love cucumbers, or even if you don't, you have to try this Asian cucumber salad recipe! Smashing is a classic Asian technique, it creates crevices for the chunky chilli dressing to nestle in. The perfect combination of refreshing and firecracker heat. OBSESSED!

Spice level – Decent warm buzz but not blow-your-head-off if you are using my go-to chilli crisp, the Laoganma Crispy Chilli Oil. Note 3.

Scared of the chilli? Make Smashed Cucumbers with ginger sauce instead!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Asian, Chinese

Keyword Asian cucumber salad, spicy cucumber salad

Prep Time 7

Salting time 30

Total Time 37

Servings as a side

Calories 100cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

4 cucumbers (~20cm/8", scale up/down for shorter/longer, Note 1)
3/4 tsp cooking/kosher salt
1 eschalot/French onion , halved then very thinly sliced (US: shallot) (Note 2)
1 cup green onion , green part only finely sliced (1 large, 2 small stems)
2 tbsp+ chilli crisp (crispy chilli oil) – Laoganma is my fave (Note 3)
2 tsp white seame seeds , toasted (save some for topping)

Dressing:

1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar (sub any clear vinegar)
2 tsp soy sauce , all-purpose or light (Note 4)
2 tsp sesame oil , toasted (ie brown, not yellow)

Instructions

Smash & salt cucumbers

Smash – Hit cucumbers with a meat mallet, rolling pin or similar to make the sides burst open. Cut in half lengthwise then into 2.5cm/1" pieces.
Salt 30 min – Place in a bowl, toss with salt. Set aside for 30 minutes to draw out water (Note 5). Drain/strain and discard salty water, leave cucumbers in same bowl.

Salad

Whisk Dressing in a bowl.
CHECK spiciness of your chilli crisp – they vary by brand. If using Laoganma, stick with recipe, else adjust to taste.
Toss – Put green onion, eschalots, sesame seeds, dressing and chilli crisp in with the cucumbers. Toss until eschalots go floppy – ~30 seconds.
Serve, sprinkled with extra sesame seeds and dollops of chilli crisp if you dare!
Note: Water continues to come out of cucumbers so after few hours/next day, you'll have a lot more dressing but not as intense flavoured. So eat/serve with spoon to get plenty of dressing in every bite!

Notes

1. Cucumbers – I use four of what we call Lebanese cucumbers here in Australia, the equivalent is Persian in the US (though usually slightly smaller). Or 2 longer English / telegraph cucumbers which are around 30cm/1 foot long.

2. Eschalot/French onion – Called shallots in the US, not as hash onion-y as regular onions and more delicate so they flop and meld better. Sub with 1/s small red onion sliced extra finely.

3. Chilli crisp – Laoganma is the worldwide favourite, sold in large grocery stores as well as Asian stores. It’s actually not that spicy, it’s more about the crunchy chilli and salty/sweet flavour.

Plenty of other brands – look for (Asian) jars with the word CRISPY, CRUNCHY or CRUNCH in it! Tres trendy in the Western world (I’m late to the party). Use leftovers for Chilli Crisp Noodles!

4. Soy sauce – All purpose or light soy. Not dark (too intense) or sweet (too…sweet!).

5. Smashing/salting – Draws excess water out of cucumbers than makes flavour watery.

6. Leftovers good for 24 hours, after this the cucumbers go a little too soft for my taste.

Nutrition per serving, assuming 4 servings as a side.

Nutrition

Life of Dozer

Empty. Told you!

The post Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

Panzanella (Italian tomato & bread salad)

Nagi — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 06:01:00 +0000

Panzanella is a classic tomato and bread salad from Tuscany. Bursting with ripe tomatoes, juicy cucumber and fragrant basil, it’s hard to think of a salad that screams “summer” more loudly. Chunks of lightly toasted bread bring delicious texture and some heft to the salad, making it filling enough for lunch or a light meal.

Be warned, this salad demands the very best tomatoes! If you don’t have juicy tomatoes, don’t make this. Make another salad instead!

Panzanella – traditional Italian tomato and bread salad

Panzanella is a classic example of Italian cucina povera (literally “food of the poor”). This historically refers to the simple fare of commoners, meals made from humble and seasonal ingredients but no less delicious than the lavish foods gracing the tables of the rich.

In Tuscany, thrifty repurposing of leftover stale bread with the summertime bounty of tomatoes gave birth to this traditional salad.

At its simplest it’s nothing more than torn chunks of stale bread tossed with juicy, ripe tomatoes, and maybe a little olive oil. The real magic happens when the dressing and tomato juices soak into the bread, softening them and melding flavours with the tomatoes.

After making this salad over the years, we’ve made some tweaks to the strictly traditional recipes. We’ve found toasting the bread yields far better results, and additions like a little cucumber and some garlic in the dressing add interest.

Toasting the bread isn’t strictly traditional. But it stops it from turning into white unidentifiable mush within minutes of tossing with dressing. Don’t skip it!

Ingredients in Panzanella

Here’s what goes in the salad:

JUICY ripe tomatoes – You need to use the absolute best quality tomatoes you can find. They must be juicy and ripe, so they drop plenty of tomato juices this is used to make the dressing.
So if you don’t have juicy tomatoes, make another salad instead!
Cucumbers – I’ve peeled the cucumbers here, but this is purely decorative, to introduce some colour variation. Telegraph/English cucumber skins can also be a little tough (ie the long cucumbers). But peeling is totally optional.
Basil leaves – Always present in a good Panzanella!
Stale bread – Best breads (in order of preference):
– ciabatta
– pane di casa / artisan loaf
– open-crumbed sourdough (ie. hole-y, not dense)
– Turkish bread
Breads that sit in the middle of the spectrum of denseness work best. We want a bread with an open crumb, but still some heft.
Don’t use baguettes or dinner rolls. They’re too light and will disintegrate on contact with dressing. Bread that is too dense on the other hand also won’t work right.
In terms of quantities, breads vary in denseness and thus weight, so go by volume ratios. You want an approximate 1:2 ratio of bread to vegetables.
DON’T use stale bread without toasting. I did this once, and after only half an hour, the bread was such a soggy, goopy mess that someone asked me what “that white stuff” was in the salad. When I told him it was bread he replied, “Oh, right. I thought it was tofu …” Ouch. I’ve been toasting the bread ever since!

Panzanella Dressing

Here’s what goes in the Panzanella Dressing:

Extra virgin olive oil – Use the best quality you can afford, for the best flavour!
White wine vinegar – It’s a little more rounded and better flavoured than ordinary white vinegar. Red wine vinegar can also be used. Other options: cider vinegar, sherry vinegar, champagne vinegar or white balsamic.
Dijon mustard – This thickens the dressing so it coats the ingredients nicely, as well as introducing a little extra flavour.
Garlic – Not usually present in traditional Panzanella, but it improves the salad two-fold in my book!

How and what to serve with Panzanella

With the bread in this salad, this is totally meal-worthy (yes, that’s a qualification in my world – see here for all my meal-worthy salads!). It will serve 3 normal adults as a meal (or 2 1/2 people with healthy appetites such as myself!)

Otherwise, serve it as a side dish. Alongside anything Italian would be an obvious choice, though really, it’s going to be right at home alongside anything Western/European. It also makes what I call a nice two-in-one side dish. That is, a starch (bread) and vegetables combined in the one dish which is always handy, as it saves you making two separate side dishes to tick the two boxes.

Let me know if you make this, and what you serve it with! I’m always interested to hear what you’re making! – Nagi x

PS. No video for the 3 simple side salads I’m sharing today! (This Panzanella, a Blood Orange Salad and the Garden Salad). But if you do want a video, just give me a shout out below and I’ll do one for you once summer rolls round and I can get my hands on some ripe tomatoes!

Panzanella (Italian tomato and bread salad)

Panzanella is a classic tomato and bread salad from Tuscany. Bursting with ripe tomatoes, cucumber and basil, it's hard to think of a salad that screams "summer" any louder. Chunks of lightly toasted bread meanwhile bring delicious texture and some heft to the salad, making it filling enough for lunch or a light meal.

Be warned, this salad demands the very best tomatoes! If you don't have juicy tomatoes, don't make this. Make another salad instead!

And though some Italians may tell you toasting bread is not the traditional way to make Panzanella, don't skip it. That is, unless you WANT unidentifiable white mush in your bowl within minutes of making this!

Course Side Salad

Cuisine Italian

Keyword bread salad, italian bread salad, italian tomato salad, Panzanella, stale bread recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Sweating tomato, resting and cooling 25

Total Time 50

Servings – 5 people as a side

Calories 431cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

4 – 5 cups (loosely packed) stale bread , torn into 2.5cm/1” chunks (~180g/6 oz, depending on bread used)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 medium tomatoes (Note 1)
1 tsp cooking/kosher salt (or 3/4 tsp table salt)
2 Lebanese cucumbers (or 1 long telegraph/English cucumber), peeled (optional) (Note 3)
1 cup basil leaves , loosely packed

Dressing:

2 tbsp red or white wine vinegar (Note 4 for other options)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil , the best you can afford
1 1/2 tsp garlic , finely minced (~1 large or 2 small)
1/4 tsp salt

Cups – Metric

Instructions

Toast bread:

Preheat oven to 180°C /350°F (160°C fan).
Toss bread chunks with 1 tbsp olive oil in a bowl.
Toast: Spread bread on a a tray and toast for about 15 minutes, until the outside is becoming golden and crunchy but the inside is still a little soft, like toast. Remove and leave to cool.

Salad:

Cut tomato into 8 wedges each. Cut some of these wedges into half (I like irregular shapes for this rustic salad).
Sweat tomato with salt: Put tomatoes into a colander over a large bowl. Season with the salt, toss and set aside for 10 minutes to draw out the juices. RESERVE the tomato juice in the bowl for the dressing.
Cut cucumber into any shaped chunks aroun 2.5cm / 1" pieces. Again, I like to do irregular but even-sized shapes.
Toss veg: Place tomato sweating in colander into large bowl. Add cucumber and basil, toss gently.
Tomato Dressing: Add Dressing ingredients into bowl holding the tomato juice, whisk well.
Dress salad: Add bread to salad, pour over dressing. Give it a light toss.
Rest then serve: Leave for 5 minutes to let the juices soak into the bread, tossing once or twice. Toss once more just before serving!

Notes

1. Juicy and ripe tomatoes! You need to use the absolute best quality tomatoes you can find. They must be juicy and ripe, so they drop plenty of tomato juices when salted. Use all the tomato juice you catch for the dressing!

2. Bread – You want a 1:2 ratio of bread to vegetables by volume, ie. twice the amount of vegetables as bread.

Breads that sit in the middle of the spectrum of denseness work best. We want a bread with an open crumb, but still some heft. Best breads (in order of preference): ciabatta, pane di casa / artisan loaf, open-crumbed sourdough (ie. hole-y, not dense), Turkish bread.

Toasting bread is not strictly traditional. But unless you toast, it turns into unidentifiable soggy mush within minutes of dressing!

Don’t use baguettes or dinner rolls (too light) nor use bread that’s too dense.

3. Cucumber peeling – Recommended for telegraph/English cucumbers which can have tougher skin. Optional for other softer skin cucumbers – I do it for visual interest.

4. Other vinegar options: cider vinegar, sherry vinegar, champagne vinegar or white balsamic.

5. References – Thanks to Kenji from Serious Eats for the panzanella trick of salting the tomatoes and using the juices as part of the dressing.

Nutrition

Life of Dozer

The warmest spot in the house!

The post Panzanella (Italian tomato & bread salad) appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

German Cucumber Salad

Nagi — Tue, 11 May 2021 16:00:00 +0000

This is a great, easy and refreshing German Cucumber Salad that’s something a little different to the usual. Called Gurkensalat, it’s a staple side salad in every household in Germany. It’s particularly favoured during the warmer weather for its cooling effects, as well as making a perfect accompaniment to counter hearty, rib-sticking German food such as Pork Knuckle.

Snapshot: German Cucumber Salad

You’ll find versions of this cucumber salad in every household in Germany, and in many German restaurants around the world. It comes in both non-creamy (oil-and-vinegar) versions as well as creamy versions like this one I’m sharing. It’s an excellent summer salad, and to serve alongside rich, meaty heavy mains.

Tastes like: Juicy, creamy, and a little tangy. Refreshing and cooling, with a clean and neutral flavour.
Perfect as: Summer side salad, or a base to build a stand-alone, light salad meal (eg. top with hot-smoked trout or eel, ham, fried bacon, or white anchovies)
Serve alongside: Hearty, rich mains. Think: German Pork Knuckle, Schnitzel etc
Effort level: Low, especially if you have a mandoline!
Storage: Keeps 2 days in the fridge

Finely slice the cucumbers

What goes in German Cucumber Salad

Here’s what you need to make this:

Cucumbers – This is best made using the long English / telegraph cucumbers. These are less watery and have slightly firmer flesh than the shorter Lebanese cucumbers which are more common in Australia. They hold up better once dressed.
If you can’t find English / telegraph cucumbers, use 4 Lebanese cucumbers instead (no need to peel these, the skin is softer);
Sour cream – Full-fat is best, because the cucumber juices will dilute the creamy dressing. However low-fat works just fine too. You can also substitute thick plain yogurt;
Vinegar – Just plain-old white distilled vinegar; and
Dill – The fresh aniseed-y flavour really makes it! So don’t skip it! Alternatives: Chives will add a nice refreshing oniony touch, mint will also go very well, else parsley for a more neutral flavour. Coriander / cilantro will give it a great Middle Eastern spin (I’d probably add a squeeze of lemon and touch of garlic too).

How to make German Cucumber Salad

Peel and finely slice cucumbers – It’s best to peel English / telegraph cucumbers because the skin is a bit thick and tough. It just gives the salad a better overall texture, otherwise you have the slightly tougher skin mingling with the soft flesh. It also looks lovely with the pale green of the flesh only!
If you’re using Lebanese cucumbers, there is no need to peel them because the skin is softer (feel free to, however).
Finely slicing – A mandoline will make short work of this. This is the one I have – I’ve been loyal to it for my entire cooking life, I love it. Otherwise, show off your knife skills!
Mix dressing – Mix dressing ingredients in a small bowl, then toss cucumbers in the dressing. The dressing is initially quite thick, as shown below, but it will thin out in the next step; and
Leave for 4 hours+ – Set salad aside to let the cucumbers sweat and soften with the salt and acid from the dressing, like a very light pickling. The cucumber juice also thins the dressing so what started out as a thick and rich sour cream dressing ends up as a thin, Coleslaw-like white dressing which is refreshing rather than cloying.

What to serve with German Cucumber Salad

Such a clean-tasting, refreshing salad like this excellent served alongside rich or meat-heavy mains such as roasts. The cooling, creamy taste also couples perfectly with barbecued foods, so bring it along as part of a BBQ spread on hot summer days.

I’m sharing it as a suggested side for the Crispy German Pork Knuckle that I published on Monday as part of this week’s German-themed recipes. Pair it with the German Potato Salad I also shared today for a big Bavarian feast!! – Nagi x

German Cucumber Salad

This is a recipe for a refreshing German Cucumber Salad. Called Gurkensalat, it's a staple side salad you'll find versions of in every household in Germany. It's particularly favoured during the warmer weather for its cooling effects, as well as alongside rich mains such as German Pork Knuckle.

It will go with virtually any European or Western dish, as it has a clean, neutral flavour.

The dressing is very thick at first, but it naturally becomes diluted with the cucumber juices so you end up with a thinner, white dressing. This makes this Cucumber Salad refreshing rather than cloying.

Don't skip the dill, it really makes it!

Course Side Salad

Cuisine German

Keyword Creamy Cucumber Salad, cucumber salad, German Cucumber Salad

Prep Time 10

Marinating 4

Servings

Calories 66cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

2 English / telegraph cucumbers (ie. long cucumbers. Sub 4 x Lebanese cucumbers, Note 1)

Dressing:

1/2 cup sour cream (sub plain, thick yogurt)
1 tbsp white vinegar (plain distilled vinegar)
1 tsp white sugar
1 tbsp fresh dill , finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper

Cups – Metric

Instructions

Peel cucumbers and finely slice into 2mm / 0.2" slices using a mandoline (or by hand and show off your knife skills!)
Mix dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
Toss cucumbers with dressing, then set aside for at least 4 hours or even overnight. The cucumbers will soften and leach juice which will thin the dressing to the right consistency.
Serving: Toss well then transfer to bowl for serving. Serve chilled for the most refreshing flavour!

Notes

1. Cucumbers – It’s best to use the long cucumbers called English or telegraph cucumbers. These are less watery than Lebanese cucumbers, the short ones which are more common in Australia. Lebanese cucumbers will make the dressing slightly thinner than intended and the cucumber will go slightly softer. But they are still delicious and worth using with this recipe!

If you can’t find English cucumbers, use 4 x Lebanese cucumbers instead (each about 20-25cm long). If you use Lebanese cucumbers, peeling is optional (skin is tougher on Telegraph cucumbers) but feel free to do so.

2. Storage – Keeps for 2 days. After this, I find the cucumber gets a bit too soft for my taste.

3. Nutrition – Per serving, assuming 5 servings.