While cucumber is great raw, a light sautéing brings out in the gourd a delicious flavor dimension. The key is to cook the cucumber just enough to let it soften, not so much that it turns limp or watery. This cucumber side dish recipe, flavored with fresh lime and mustard, shows you how.
Cucumber
Kachumber Salad: Classic Indian Cucumber Onion Tomato Salad
Kachumber – a classic Indian cucumber onion tomato salad that’s light, fresh and oil-free. This healthy side dish made with raw, fresh vegetables gives a pleasant counterpoint to rich Indian curries such as baingan masala, gobi musallam, dahi arbi. And of course, kachumber salad is most famously paired with dhansak.
Carrot Cucumber Rava Cheela
Take the basic semolina pancake recipe up a level: fortify it with carrot and cucumber, flavor its base with a dash of dahi, spice it up with ginger and chilies. Carrot cucumber rava cheela works really well for brunch or in the lunchbox with tomato pickle on the side.
Cucumber Pomegranate Salad
A bright side dish to perk up your mealtimes. Cucumber and pomegranate are loaded with antioxidants, and when they come together, they make a salad that’s the very definition of healthy gorgeousness.
Cucumber Tomato Curry
The staple Indian salad ingredients – kheera tamatar (cucumber and tomatoes) – can take on a curry avatar too. As these veggies are edible raw, the curry need not be cooked too long either. Cucumber tomato curry is great on the side with chapatis and a sprinkling of Bikaneri bhujia on top.
Cucumber Coriander Mint Juice
This green juice is loaded with the goodness of fresh herbs: coriander (cilantro / coriander) and mint (pudina). Light, water-rich cucumber makes it a perfect solvent for the dense herb extract. A squeeze of lime enhances the color and flavor of the drink, besides upping the vitamin quotient. Ideal for the summer, easy on the waist – as well as on the wallet.
This recipe is part of our full Juicing Recipes: 7-Day Plan.
Apple Cucumber Mint Juice
To call fresh juice "refreshing" is a well-worn cliché, but some clichés are worth repeating. Apple cucumber mint juice at the end of a work-packed weekday is an excellent pick-me-up. When you’ve had a luxurious dinner, try apple mint cucumber juice first thing the next morning – it’s a wonderful way to balance out the indulgence of the previous meal.
This recipe is part of our full Juicing Recipes: 7-Day Plan.