A refreshing chopped cucumber salad loaded with peanuts, spices, toasted coconut, and chiles.
You can prep all the components ahead of time, but don’t toss the salad until just before serving. If you do the peanuts will lose their crunch because the cucumbers give off a good amount of water. If you use two chiles and leave the seeds/veins in – this is quite a spicy salad, so feel free to adapt for your tastes. You can just use one chile, and if you’re still worried, remove the seeds and veins. It can be made vegan by substituting sunflower oil for the ghee.
3 medium cucumbers, partially peeled, like a zebra
1-2 green chiles, stemmed and minced
1/2 cup / 2.5 oz freshly roasted peanuts
1/3 cup / 1.5 ounces / 45 g dried large-flake coconut, toasted
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp natural cane sugar
1 tbsp, ghee or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
a handful cilantro, chopped
Halve the cucumbers lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, and chop into pieces roughly the size of pencil erasers. Just before you’re ready to serve, transfer to a mixing bowl and toss gently with chiles, peanuts, coconut, lemon juice, and sugar.
Over medium heat melt the ghee in a small skillet. When hot stir in the mustard seeds. They are going to sputter and spit a bit, and when this starts to happen, add the cumin for 15-30 seconds, just long enough to toast the spices. Cover with a lid if needed. Remove from heat, stir in the salt, and immediately stir this into the salad. Turn out onto a platter topped with the cilantro.