Refreshing and distinct, Thai cucumber salad is a summertime favourite at home. You don’t need any fancy leaves or seeds, but plain old cucumbers, crunchy roasted peanuts, a hint of chilli, and a handful of other easily found ingredients to toss up the best Thai cucumber salad ever. Packed with sweet, sour, and savoury notes in each bite, this easy Thai cucumber salad recipe turns out an intensely flavourful and zingy chilled salad that is super addictive. Read on – I’m sure this is one that you will love.
An authentic Thai cucumber salad can be had on its own as a mid-day pick-me-up, a party starter, or as a side with almost any meal. Beat the heat with this easy chilled salad.
Thai cuisine is known for its flavourful preparations with an emphasis on aromatic ingredients and a kick from spices. Thai food is all about texture, colour, and taste. To make a masterful Thai dish, balance of flavours is a must. This balance is evident in this easy Thai cucumber salad recipe.
▲ Thai Cucumber Salad garnished with optional red chillies served and ready to eat
Thai curries - red curry, green curry, massaman curry, penang curry and numerous others are aromatic curries popularly eaten worldwide. A Thai noodle dish which is really famous and loved globally is the Pad Thai Noodles which my family absolutely loves too. Som Tam or Thai Green Papaya Salad is another refreshing and healthy salad (and spicy) from the cuisine that has gained popularity worldwide.
Within Thailand there are regional variations in the cuisine. Bangkok has food with touches of the royal cuisine along with an influence of European, Asian, and other countries. The cuisine of Central Thailand sees a heightened use of coconut milk. Central Thailand is home to the rice plantations and was the erstwhile seat of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya kingdoms. The food of Northeastern Thailand or the Isan region is influenced by Khmer cuisine. Northern Thailand has a lot of mountain ranges and the cuisine is similar to Isan. Southern Thailand is where one can see varied food techniques put to use along with a greater use of spices, chillies, and curries.
▲ Dry roast the peanuts in a wok over low heat and fry the garlic till golden also on low heat
Fun Fact: Traditionally Thai food was eaten with the right hand till King Chulalongkorn introduced the fork and spoon upon returning from his Europe tour in 1897.
▲ Tip cored and sliced cucumber into a large glass or wooden bowl
The ingredients needed to start this Thai cucumber salad recipe are peanuts, oil, and garlic. Then, for the salad dressing or sauce you need white vinegar, powdered sugar, and Thai sweet chilli sauce. You will also need cucumbers, fresh coriander leaves, shallots, salt, and a red chilli (this is optional).
▲ Add ingredients including the fried garlic to a large glass bowl
Roasting peanuts: I roast the peanuts in a wok over low heat, stirring continuously till they turn golden brown. This process can take between 8 to 15 minutes. Be patient and do not be tempted to increase the heat or the peanuts will brown unevenly and render their oil, and they may even get burnt. As soon as you get that nice golden colour with some darker spots on the peanuts, remove them from the wok and place them on a plate to cool down. If you leave them in the wok they will continue to cook and turn dark and bitter due to the residual heat of the wok. Once cooled completely, the peanuts need to be crushed coarsely before being added to the Thai cucumber salad.
▲ Pour the prepared dressing / sauce over the other Thai Cucumber Salad ingredients
Frying garlic: Chopped garlic should be fried over medium-low heat till it turns light golden. Ensure it is removed from the hot oil with a slotted spoon right away. Chef’s tip: Garlic too, continues to cook in the oil even if it is off the heat due to the residual heat. It will also get a darker as it cools down so don’t overcook the garlic.
Preparing the dressing / sauce: Mix the vinegar, powdered sugar and sweet chilli sauce with fork to combine the flavours.
▲ Gently but thoroughly mix and toss the Thai Cucumber salad ingredients together.
Assembling the Sweet and Sour Thai Cucumber Salad: The cucumber is sliced in half lengthwise and cored to remove seeds. It is then sliced into half rounds and placed in a glass, wood, or non-reactive metal bowl along with coriander leaves, chopped shallots, fried garlic, crushed roasted peanuts, and the dressing. It must be mixed well and placed in the refrigerator to chill for an hour for the flavours of the salad to blend. A non-reactive bowl is necessary as vinegar reacts with certain metals.
▲ Serve the salad chilled once the flavours have blended together for an hour
Adding the salt, last: Salt should be added just before serving the Thai cucumber salad. Salt is not added earlier as it results in the cucumber turning limp and makes for a sloppy salad, which we do nit want. We want a bright, flavourful, nicely textured Thai cucumber salad, one that tastes fresh and crunchy with each bite.
▲ Here we go! Sweet and sour cucumber salad easy Thai style for you.
Thai cucumber salad needs to be served chilled. It can be served on its own as a snack or as a side dish accompanying a Thai meal. But if you are in the mood for these delightful flavours, you also can mix and match and serve this salad with other cuisines too. It is also a great side with roasted meats.
Variation: Add a splash of toasted sesame oil for a deep earthy flavour.
▲ Serve this Thai Cucumber Salad Recipe to friends and family. They will love it.
Learn how to make the best Thai cucumber salad at home with our step by step photos and by following the detailed video recipe. Find the easiest way to toss up Thai cucumber salad, its ingredients, and the top tricks to make it right here.
And if you have a keen interest in learning a new cuisine, go through all our Asian Recipes and get cooking.