5-minute healthy cucumber salad

5-minute healthy cucumber salad is the Indonesian-inspired side that delivers heat, sweetness, and zest to your table in minutes.

Side dishes shouldn’t alone on the east side, lonely, waiting for a customer. Their role is to support the main event. Through bold flavors, different textures, stand-out colors, a side dish is every bit as important as the center.

For this reason, I’ve been exploring ways to enjoy enticing sides that are more than just ‘eat your peas’ bowls,' but are memorable in their own right.

This cucumber salad is designed to replace a more-traditional green salad. You only need one veggie. That would, of course, be the cucumber.

Cucumbers are healthy for you and are filled with phytonutrients. They are also unsurprisingly low in calories with zero fat.

Although the seeds and peels are the most nutrient-dense, we find the cucumber seeds a bit difficult to digest. For this reason, I usually take approximately 1 minute to remove the seeds.

To do this, cut the cucumber lengthwise, and run a small spoon straight down the middle of your ‘cuke.' My teaspoon measuring spoon works quite well for this because it is less spoony and more scoop.

You don’t need to remove the seeds, so skip this part and save a few minutes. Cut the cucumber into half-moons or into cubes. Don’t make them too big. This helps the dressing absorb into the cucumber.

Our top secret dressing

Kidding. There are three flavor combinations, spicy hot, zesty, and sweet.

1 Spicy hot. Hands down, my preferred chili sauce is Sambal Oelek.(zam-bahl U-lek). Sambal is a Southeast Asian sauce made from red chili peppers, salt, and vinegar. Now that it’s more widely distributed, you’ll discover some brans with lemon or lime juice, garlic, or sugar.

Look for Sambal Oelek in larger supermarkets or Asian markets. Be sure to check the label that the one you choose doesn’t contain added oil or other ingredients you want to avoid.

2. Sweet. My preference for this dressing is agave syrup. The agave plant, grown in Mexico and South Africa, has a naturally occurring, vegan sweetener, agave syrup (or agave nectar). Agave is a bit thinner than honey and packs a powerfully sweet flavor, so you don’t need much.

Date paste or even a dash of maple syrup will substitute if you don’t have agave syrup. The idea is to temper the spiciness of the Sambal Oelek.

3. Tangy. A quarter cup of lime juice ties up the heat and sweet. If you use lime juice, you may need a dash more of agave syrup. You’ll want to test it.

Despite the heat warning that should already be placed on the dressing, we add a sliced red chili. Perhaps we are spice gluttons, or I need to be encouraged to drink more water, or most likely, it makes the bowl a bit more colorful. Add 3-4 scallions (green onions) and call it a side dish.

Final Thoughts

The idea of a 5-minute salad may not be inspiring on its face. But try a forkful of this healthy, spicy cucumber salad, and it could well change your mind. At the least, it’s gonna wake you up! Peace.

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