Lebanese Lemon Cucumber Salad

Summertime Saladtime!

In the heat, I crave salty, creamy, crunchy, punchy — and something new. Turns out this Lebanese Lemon Cucumber Salad is exactly it. (No lemon cucumbers on hand? Any cucumber will do.)

Using up veggies from the garden and cupboard-diving means no schlepping to the store. The prep is quick, and paired with some grilled chicken (that someone else cooks while I handle the salad), we’re made in the shade.

Two things I grow in the garden without fail, every single year: lemon cucumbers and ubiquitous mint. Both grow with passion and thrive on neglect. I love lemon cucumbers because you rarely find them at the market — plus the color, the crunch, the perfect skin-to-flesh ratio. My daughter Lucia eats them like apples straight off the vine, warm from the sun with a little salt sprinkled on. She’s quite the gourmand.

No lemon cucumbers? Regular cukes work fine here — just vow to toss some lemon cucumber seeds in the ground next year.

Preparing the lemon cucumbers is easy: cut in half crosswise, then scoop out the watery seeds with a spoon. This keeps your salad crisp, not watery, and easier to digest. Peeling isn’t necessary — the nutrients, color, and crunch are all in the skin.

Once you chop the cukes with red onion and mint, make the dressing right on top of the salad — hooray, fewer things to wash! As any Hipcook worth their Maldon salt knows, freshly toasting and grinding the spices makes all the difference.

The combination of fresh spices, lots of mint, and cooling yogurt gives this Lebanese lemon cucumber salad its flair. Alongside grilled chicken, it’s a deconstructed kebab on a plate — visually stunning and scrumptious.

Loving these summer salad recipes? Come learn amazing knife skills (and salads galore) in our Endless Salads class — offered only in summer, so get it while it’s hot at Hipcooks. 

Lebanese Lemon Cucumber Salad

Print Recipe

 : serves 4 as a side salad Prep Time: 20 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 3.7/5

( 18 voted )

Ingredients

4 -6 lemon cucumbers, scrubbed gently to remove any prickly spikes on the skin (Lucia rubs them on her t-shirt before eating from the garden)
1 medium red onion
a nice fluffy bunch of mint, leaves only, reserving some for garnish
1 heaping cup plain whole milk yogurt (you can also use sour cream, or a bit of both)
juice from a lemon
1 teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and freshly ground
a dash of sumac
garnish with red chili paste, if desired (I always desire kick, especially in the summer!)

Instructions

Using your supah-dupah Hipcooks knife skills, cut each lemon cucumber in half. Place the cut-side down for stability and cut across the cuke in nice, thin even slices. Peel the onion and give it a similar treatment. Chiffonade the mint, reserving a hearty sprinkle for garnish. Place all (but the garnish) in a salad bowl.

Plop the yogurt atop the veggies, add the lemon, salt, a swirl of black pepper, cumin and sumac. Mix all the ingredients, and serve adorned with chili paste and the reserved mint.

Notes

If you love that Middle-eastern flare, add a spoonful or two of chopped preserved lemons to the chili paste. You can purchase jarred preserved lemons at a market, but the savvy Hipcook will always make their own, especially after having enjoyed our class, The Mo' rockin' (Moroccan) Spice Trail. In class, learn about the myriad of spices, make preserved lemons, and use them in our main dish. Come on down!