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Recipe

Indian Cucumber and Coconut Salad

April 20, 2008 · By Monica Shaw

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I like my dals with something refreshing on the side. Lately, I’m all about this salad, adapted from Das Sreedharan’s “The New Taste of India”, a fantastic cookbook filled with delicious vegetarian recipes from Southern India.

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The salad takes a bit of chopping, but it’s totally worth it, both for its flavor, and for the rave reviews it gets everytime I serve it.

Indian Cucumber and Coconut Salad

For the salad:
1 cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
2 Tbsp desiccated coconut (or more to taste)
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 fresh green chilli, finely chopped
a small bunch of fresh cilantro (i.e. coriander), finely chopped
salt

For the dressing:
2 tsp olive oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 dried red chilli, halved
1/2 tsp asafoetida
~10 dried curry leaves
juice from half a lemon

  1. Place all the salad ingredients in a bowl and set aside in the fridge.
  2. Put the oil in a large frying pan with the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, red chilli, asafoetida and curry leaves. Turn the heat up to medium and wait for the seeds to start sizzling and smelling delicious.
  3. When the mustard seeds begin to pop, pour the oil and seeds over the salad. Add the lemon juice and some salt to taste and mix thoroughly. If you can wait, cool in the fridge before serving.

About Monica Shaw

Veg lover, dog owner, hill walker, wild camper, avocado addict, nerd. I write about how to be awesome through a "smarter fitter" approach to eating, drinking, living and working.
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Recipe Rating




  1. Indian Cucumber and Coconut Sa says

    April 20, 2008 at 4:55 pm

    […] Crossposted to SmarterFitter.com […]

    Reply
  2. MizFit says

    April 21, 2008 at 10:01 pm

    YUM!!

    email me if youd ever wanna be a GUEST CHEF on MizFit!

    Reply
  3. monica says

    April 22, 2008 at 4:57 am

    FO SHO!

    Reply
  4. Cassie says

    April 24, 2008 at 4:17 pm

    Monica, what a gorgeous salad and great combination of ingredients. I’ll be making this one soon. Looks delicious!

    Reply
  5. monica says

    April 24, 2008 at 8:07 pm

    Thanks! I highly recommend eating it with some dal. They are soooo good together. Let me know how it goes!

    Reply
  6. Cassie says

    May 16, 2008 at 3:07 am

    Hi Monica! My husband made this salad for us – and ohhh, is it ever GOOD! I couldn’t imagine the combination of flavors together when I first read the recipe but it sure sounded wonderfully interesting. Will definitely be making this again. Thanks so much for sharing it. And we went with your suggestion to have it on the side with dal – it was such a delicious meal. 😀

    Reply
  7. monica says

    May 16, 2008 at 7:31 am

    Cassie, I’m SOOOO glad you liked it. I don’t suppose you took a picture? Yours are always so much better than mine. 😉

    Reply
  8. Cassie says

    May 16, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    Hi again, Monica! Thanks for the nice comment on my pictures. Yours is very nice!! My husband actually took a picture of the salad after he made it. http://www.veggiemealplans.com/archive/54-recipes-to-try/1185-recipes-to-try#comment-1629“ rel=”nofollow”>I posted it here. It’s really a super recipe. Glad we finally tried it! 🙂

    (Hope the link worked! :))

    Reply
  9. SmarterFitter Blog » Blo says

    October 11, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    […] am slowly adding to my lexicon of tasty Indian recipes. First there was Dal, then there was Cucumber and Coconut Salad, now there is Eggplant […]

    Reply
  10. SmarterFitter Blog » Blo says

    October 23, 2008 at 9:09 pm

    […] Vegetarian Recipes from Southern India ) is one of my favorites, and I frequently make their savoy cabbage and cucumber and coconut salad. Even though Rasa is right around the corner from our flat, we don’t eat there very often […]

    Reply
  11. SmarterFitter Blog » Blo says

    February 26, 2009 at 9:59 pm

    […] is to go to India and learn to cook from the people who invented dal, channa masala, and numerous other favorite foods of mine. Last night at Hot Stuff, I felt pretty […]

    Reply
  12. Sneak Peak in an Indian Kitche says

    February 26, 2009 at 10:26 pm

    […] is to go to India and learn to cook from the people who invented dal, channa masala, and numerous other favorite foods of mine. Last night at Hot Stuff, I felt pretty […]

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Yellow Pea Dahl » SmarterFitter says:
    February 26, 2012 at 12:01 pm

    […] techniques and go-to recipes that work every time (red lentil dal with panch phoran, besan cheelas, cucumber and coconut salad to name a […]

    Reply
  2. Indian Cabbage Salad » SmarterFitter says:
    November 27, 2012 at 2:28 pm

    […] salad is basically a winter riff on this cucumber and coconut salad and leaves a lot of room for improvisation (because I know how much Rachel loves improv). Any […]

    Reply
  3. How To Eat More Vegetables | smarterfitter says:
    May 20, 2013 at 8:55 pm

    […] with some basmati rice (and if you’re feeling adventures, a cucumber and coconut salad), then you’ve got yourself a meal that’s nutritious, flavoursome and won’t make […]

    Reply
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