Bengali-ish cucumber & red onion salad
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber
- ½ large red onion
- 1 small green chilli very finely sliced — optional
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander roughly chopped
- Juice of 1 lime
- ½ tsp ground cumin preferably toasted
- ¼ tsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Optional: small pinch of chaat masala
Instructions
- Halve the cucumber lengthways and scoop out the watery seeds with a teaspoon, then slice into thin half-moons. Slice the red onion very finely.
- Toss the onion with the lime juice, salt and sugar first and leave it for 10–15 minutes. This lightly pickles it and takes away the harsh raw-onion edge.
- Just before serving, add the cucumber, chilli, coriander and cumin. Toss and taste—you want it noticeably tart and fresh, not sweet.
- If you have chaat masala, a small pinch at the end is excellent, but don’t overdo it; the salad should remain a clean counterpoint to the lamb rather than becoming another heavily spiced component.
- I’d make the onion/lime mixture ahead, but don’t add the cucumber until perhaps 10–15 minutes before 6, otherwise it starts shedding water.