Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts and Lime Recipe
This crunchy cucumber salad is a simple Thai side dish that’s a bit like creamy Polish cucumber salad, but in a spicy and tangy version. It pairs perfectly with grilled meat, fish, or works as a light snack on a hot day.
Light cucumber salads like this are served in Thailand alongside rich meats and fried noodles to add freshness and acidity. In street-food versions you’ll often find dried shrimp or extra chili added.
This version combines very simple ingredients with a distinctly Thai balance of sour, salty, sweet, and spicy. Thanks to the technique of thin slicing and toasting the peanuts, the flavour is intense while the salad still comes together in about 15 minutes.
Why this version works
- Removing the cucumber seeds reduces excess water and slows the salad from going soft.
- Toasted peanuts add intense aroma and contrast to the juicy vegetables.
- Mixing the dressing separately makes it easy to season perfectly before the vegetable juices dilute it.
Chef's tips
If you’re making the salad for a barbecue, keep the vegetables and dressing separate and combine them only 5–10 minutes before serving – the cucumber will stay firm. A common mistake is slicing the cucumber too thick; then the centre stays watery and bland. Aim for slices where the edges look slightly glassy but still crunch clearly when you bite into them.
How to serve
Serve well chilled as a contrast to hot grilled dishes, especially pork neck, belly, or ribs. It also goes great with baked salmon, fried shrimp, or as a quick, crunchy snack on a hot day with limeade or iced tea.
Watch out for
- Don’t slice the cucumber too thick – thick slices won’t soak up the flavour of the dressing and will taste bland.
- Don’t leave the vegetables sitting in the dressing for several hours; the cucumber will soften and release a lot of liquid.
- Add fish sauce gradually – it’s very salty and it’s easy to overseason the salad.
Substitutions
- You can replace fish sauce with light soy sauce to make a vegetarian version.
- You can easily swap coriander for flat-leaf parsley if you don’t like its flavour.
- You can replace the peanuts with cashews or toasted sunflower seeds.
Ingredients
- long greenhouse cucumber - 1 piece
- carrot - 0.5 piece
- onion czerwona mała - 0.5 piece
- unsalted peanuts - 3 tablespoon
- lime juice - 2.5 tablespoon
- sugar trzcinowy lub biały - 1.5 teaspoon
- sauce rybny lub sojowy - 1.5 tablespoon
- fresh chili pepper - 0.5 piece
- fresh coriander or parsley - 2 tablespoon
Preparation
- Wash the cucumber, cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out the soft, seedy centre with a teaspoon. Slice the firm part into very thin half-slices – the edges should look slightly translucent. Coarsely grate the carrot or cut it into thin sticks, and slice the onion into very thin feathers.
- Toast the peanuts in a dry pan over medium heat for 3–4 minutes, stirring often. When they are lightly browned and smell fragrant, transfer them straight to a plate so they don’t darken too much, then roughly chop with a knife.
- In a large bowl, mix the lime juice, sugar, fish or soy sauce, and finely chopped chili. Stir until the sugar crystals have completely dissolved and the dressing is clear, glossy, and distinctly sour-salty with a hint of sweetness.
- Add the cucumber, carrot, and onion to the bowl with the dressing. Gently toss with your hands or a spoon, lifting the vegetables up from the bottom. After about a minute, the cucumber should give slightly under gentle pressure but still stay springy and crunchy.
- Add the chopped coriander or parsley and most of the chopped peanuts, setting the rest aside for topping. Give a brief mix, taste, and if needed add a little more lime for extra acidity or a few drops of fish or soy sauce.
- Leave the salad to stand for 5–10 minutes at room temperature so the vegetables can lightly marinate. Before serving, toss again, check whether excess liquid has collected at the bottom, and sprinkle the top with the remaining peanuts so it looks clearly crunchy.
Storage
No storage information available for this dish.
For the first spring barbecue on the balcony I always throw this salad together in 10 minutes on a small table – all I need is a board, a knife, and a jar for the dressing. The cucumbers with peanuts are usually the first to disappear, while the meat cools quietly on the plates.
