Yotam Ottolenghi’s Cucumber Summer Salad
This salad is easy to make and great for a hot summer day!
Ingredients
- 700g cucumbers(ie, roughly 2 large cucumbers), quartered lengthways
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 2 tsp rice-wine vinegar
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 3 tsp flaked sea salt
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced on an angle
- ½ tbsp black sesame seeds
For the Dressing…
- 60g tahini
- 2 tbsp soy sauce(or tamari, to make the dish gluten-free)
- 1½ tbsp mirin
- 1½ tbsp rice-wine vinegar
Preparation
- Scoop out and discard the watery centre and seeds from the cucumber quarters, then cut the flesh widthways into chunky, 2cm-thick pieces. Put the cucumber in a bowl with the garlic, vinegar, lime juice and three teaspoons of flaked sea salt, then mix with your hands, lightly crushing the cucumber pieces as you do so.
- Gently heat the oil in a small saucepan until warm – about two minutes – then pour over the cucumber and leave to marinate for two hours.
- Whisk all the dressing ingredients and two tablespoons of water until you end up with a very smooth sauce (it will seize up a bit to start with, but persevere and it will come together smoothly).
- Pour the tahini mixture on to a large plate with a lip, so it naturally pools into a circle in the middle. Drain the cucumbers very well, discarding the liquid, then pile on top of the sauce. Scatter over the sliced spring onion and the sesame seeds, and serve at once.
This recipe was adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe which was featured in The Guardian. Yotam Ottolenghi is one of Red Hill Medical’s favorite cookbook authors. Check out the following titles for additional healthy recipes,
- Ottolenghi Simple: A Cookbook
- Jerusalem: A Cookbook
- Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi
- Plenty More: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking from London’s Ottolenghi