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Cucumber crunch salad with curried cashews

Summer Salad
Serves 6
Prep 25 min
Cook 20 min

This fresh, crunchy salad is the perfect accompaniment to all kinds of savoury rice dishes.

Ingredients

4 lebanese cucumbers, halved, deseeded and cut into ½cm-thick slices (350g)
400g ripe datterini (or cherry) tomatoes, halved
salt and black pepper
1 red onion, peeled and cut into thin rounds (130g)
1 large carrot, trimmed, peeled, then cut into thin ribbons (I use a vegetable peeler; 100g)
1 red chilli, thinly sliced into rounds (remove and discard the pith and seeds if you prefer less heat; 20g)
20g flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
½ tsp  nigella seeds, toasted
CURRIED CASHEWS
100g cashew nuts
1 tsp olive oil
2½ tsp madras curry powder
TAMARIND DRESSING
70g  tamarind pulp
1½ tbsp maple syrup
2½ tbsp fresh lime juice (from about 2 limes)
MINT DRESSING
20g mint leaves
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
75ml olive oil

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 170C (150C fan)/325F.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the cucumbers and tomatoes with a half-teaspoon of salt and leave to sit for 30 minutes.
  3. In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for the curried cashews with a quarter-teaspoon of salt, then spread out on a small oven tray and roast for 15 minutes, until deeply golden and dark in places. Remove and leave to cool.
  4. Meanwhile, mix all the tamarind dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
  5. Put all the mint dressing ingredients in a small food processor, add a half-teaspoon of salt, and blitz to an almost-smooth green dressing.
  6. Drain the cucumber and tomato, discarding the liquid they’ve released. On a large, lipped platter, artfully layer up the cucumber, tomato, onion rounds, carrot ribbons, chilli, parsley and both dressings. Top with a scattering of the cashews and nigella seeds, and serve.