Cucumber crunch salad with curried cashews
This fresh, crunchy salad is the perfect accompaniment to all kinds of savoury rice dishes.
Prep
25 min
Cook
20 min
Serving size
6 people
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
For the curried cashews
100g cashew nuts
1 tsp olive oil
2½ tsp madras curry powder
For the tamarind dressing
70g tamarind puree
1½ tbsp maple syrup
2½ tbsp fresh lime juice (from about 2 limes)
For the 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/gas 3.
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.