5 Ingredients: Cucumber Salad
After I made this dish last week, my 4-year old daughter requested “crunchy cucumbers” at every meal. Serve this light salad at this weekend’s July 4th cookout or bring it along on a summer picnic.
Ingredients:
15 Persian or Kirby cucumbers, thinly sliced (peeling optional)
1 tablespoon salt
1/3 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
Ground black pepper, to taste
4 sprigs dill, chopped
1) Persian cucumbers
These small cucumbers, similar to Kirby, work great in salads and don’t have many seeds. I like to keep the skin on to up the fiber (just wash the outside well); it also gives the dish a gorgeous green color. Cucumbers are an excellent source of vitamin K and a good source of the antioxidant vitamin C.
Lay cucumbers flat on a cookie tray lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and let stand 1 hour. Squeeze one handful of cucumbers at a time and place squeezed cucumbers in medium bowl; discard squeezed juice.
2) Red Onion
Onion adds sharpness to the flavor mix, and the purplish onion color complements the green cucumbers. Onions are an excellent source of the antioxidant vitamin C and a good source of vitamin B-6.
3) Red Bell Pepper
The pepper give this dish sweetness and additional crunch. Did you know a red pepper has more vitamin C than an orange? It does, and the addition helps make this cucumber salad a vitamin C powerhouse!
Add peppers and onion to the cucumber bowl. Set aside.
4) Rice Vinegar
Rice vinegar is slightly milder than other vinegars and adds tangy flavor with few calories. You can find rice vinegar at your local grocery store or Asian market.
In a small bowl, slowly whisk oil into vinegar. Add pepper and whisk until evenly mixed. Pour vinegar mixture over cucumbers and stir to combine.
5) Dill
This herb works well with vinegar and is commonly used when brining dill pickles. Just a touch gives the dish a distinctly delicious freshness. Plus, it ups the antioxidants with vitamins A and C.
Sprinkle salad with dill. Refrigerate and serve cold.
Nutrition Info:
Servings: 8 (1 cup per person)
Calories: 70
Fat: 4 grams
Saturated Fat: 0 gram
Protein: 2 grams
Carbohydrate: 7 grams
Sodium: 440 milligrams
Cholesterol: 0 milligrams
Fiber: 2 grams
Came onto this recepe by accident while "surfing". I was born in Belgium and this cucumber salad has been around a long time with many varietions! I make it for all our cookouts, and, each time a little different. The one our kids(all raised by now) like the best is when I slice the cukes with ridges on the mandolin. Same for the red onion. I then add thin strips of red and yellow pepper. Serve with my "asian" dressing of ginger, soy sauce, olive oil, rice vinegar and black peper.
I have also made this salad with cucumbers, red onion and julienne jicama (when I can get it at the grocery store!).
The grandkids like the cucumbers cut into thin strips with an avocado ranch dressing. always
I don't quite get something? Squeeze the cucumbers like a sponge??
You are wanting to get as much of the natural liquid out of the cucumbers as you can. I would skip this step if I were making this, I do not mind the extra liquid. Yes, you "squeeze" out the liquid like a sponge or you can lay them out on paper towels, place another paper towel(s) on top and push down lightly, this will give the same result after salting to remove extra liquid.
I like to salt both tomatoes and cucumbers and leave them to drain in a colander. Excess liquid can drain out without having to crush your food.
The recipe seems high in sodium for those watching their salt intake. Anyone made it without the salt or with less?
1 T of salt for 8 servings is not much at all. Also when you squeeze the cucumbers to remove the extra liquid a lot of that salt is dripping right off again.
Hi Ashley,
You took the words right out of my mouth! Putting salt on cucumbers will naturally draw out the liquid–so instead of getting the watery salad, you can remove the excess liquid by squeezing the cucumbers or by weighing them down (with another bowl or something heavy). Once some of the liquid comes out, so does some of the salt.
I am not a fan of onion so I made this with tomatoes and lightly sauteed zucchini & summer squash. YUM!
An easy way to modify this into a common Persian (Shirazi) cucumber salad served with most meals in Iran is to substitute fresh mint for the dill, tomatoes for the red bell pepper, and lime juice for the vinegar. This is a stable at my house.
meant to say staple, not stable
have not tried it yet, but i plan on trying it
add fresh mozzarella cheese ….yummmy!!!!! Vicki
add fresh mozzarella cheese also…yummmy!
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