Lebanese lemon cucumber salad

Summertime Saladtime! In the heat, I crave salty, creamy, crunchy and punchy. Oh, and something new, please. Too much to ask? This refreshing Lebanese lemon cucumber salad does it!

Using up veggies from the garden and cupboard-diving means we don’t have to schlep to the store. The prep is quick, and alongside some grilled chicken (that someone else cooks while I make the salad), and I’m made in the shade. 

2 things I always grow in the garden, without fail, each & every year are lemon cucumbers and (of course) ubiquitous mint. Both grow with passion and thrive on neglect. Why lemon cucumbers? Because I don’t always find them in the market, and I love their color, crunch, and skin to flesh ratio. My daughter Lucia eats them like apples off the vine, warm from the sun and sprinkled with a little salt. She’s quite the gourmand.

Please make this salad with regular cukes if you can’t find lemon cucumbers. And vow to toss some lemon cucumber seeds into the ground next year.

Preparing the lemon cucumbers for the salad is easy: cut in half crosswise, and then scoop out the watery seeds using a spoon. This will keep your salad crisp (not watery) and more digestible. Peeling the cucumbers is not necessary since the nutrients, color, and crunch is 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 his Maldon salt will know, freshly toasting and grinding the spices makes all the difference.

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

Are you lovin’ our Summer Salad posts? Check our salads galore and learn amazing knife skills in our Endless Salads class at Hipcooks. It’s offered only the summer, so get it while it’s hot!

Lebanese lemon cucumber salad

Print Recipe

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

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 3.8/5

( 12 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!