Easy Cucumber and Carrot Salad

Having a great, easy-to-make side salad idea that pairs well with all kinds of meals is essential, and this Cucumber and Carrot Salad works well on so many levels.

Once you have a few essential Asian ingredients such as soy sauce and sesame oil, this style of salad becomes super easy to whip up, just like my other salad that has this more sesame-focused Gomae Style Dressing. The zingy dressing on fresh crunchy vegetables really lends itself to pairing with rich or fried foods, like my favourite Spicy Oyster Mushroom Burger. If you want a spicier version that's big on flavour, definitely check out this Spicy Korean Cucumber Salad as a delicious alternative.

Salad Ingredients

• Carrots - Fresh crispy carrots are key here, make sure they're not the sad wobbly ones from the bottom of the fridge that you forgot about. Save those for a stew.
• Cucumber- I use an English/European style cucumber also known as seedless or burpless cucumber in this recipe, (mostly because these are the ones that grow easily for me!). They're fleshy but crisp, have a smooth dark green peel, and don't need to be de-seeded or peeled. Alternatives to use are the smaller Persian or Japanese cucumbers which look similar but aren't quite as large.
• Spring Onions (Green Onions): I like the fresh mild onion lift that a spring onion gives to this crisp salad.
• Fresh Mint: This adds a fragrant lift to the salad.
• Fresh Chili: Optional, but I like a little heat. De-seed for less heat and just colour or leave out.
• Sesame Seeds: I used a mixture of black and white sesame seeds because that's what I had to hand, but just one or the other is fine too.

Dressing Ingredients

• Neutral Oil: Choose a sunflower seed, grape seed or avocado oil rather than olive oil in this recipe.
• Maple Syrup: Or other sweetener of choice such as agave or brown sugar.
• Rice Vinegar: I prefer rice vinegar in this salad recipe as it's lighter and slightly sweet, and to me pairs well with the soy sauce. If you need to you can substitute for apple cider vinegar.
• Soy Sauce: Salty and full of umami, a good quality Japanese style soy sauce such as Kikkoman is my preferred soy sauce.
• Sesame Oil: The sesame oil really brings out the flavours, it only needs a little dash to really help enhance the overall salad.

See recipe card for quantities.

👩‍🍳Instructions

1.Prepare your carrots by peeling them. Then use your vegetable peeler to slice thin wide strips of carrot.

2. The cucumber does not need to be peeled. Just use your vegetable peeler to create thin, wide slices of cucumber.

3. Finely chop the spring onions into strips. Then de-seed and chop the chilli. Finally remove the leaves from the mint and chop.

4. Whisk together the salad dressing. Taste and adjust sugar/soy sauce as needed.

Assemble the salad as artistically as you like, and serve immediately.

Hint: You can assemble the salad up to 1 hour ahead of when it needs to be served and leave covered in the fridge. Pour over the dressing at the last minute.

Substitutions & Variations

1. Gluten Free: Choose Gluten-Free Soy Sauce (also known as Tamari) to keep this recipe gluten free.
2. Cucumber only: Just leave out the carrots and double the cucumber!
3. Carrot only: Leave out the cucumbers and double the carrots.
4. Allium Free (No garlic or onions): this recipe works just as well without the green onions.
5. Other veggies: Radishes, Sugar Snap Peas or even baby corn would be delicious in this crunchy vegetable salad.
6. Winter Salad- why not get inspired by this similar Vegan Asian Winter Salad with Kale and a Tangy tahini Dressing
7. Other herbs: Add or substitute in Coriander Leaf/Cilantro or flat-leaved parsley.

🔪Equipment

This super simple salad relies on a good vegetable peeler, however, you can also choose to use a very sharp knife or a mandolin to finely chop the carrots and cucumbers.

🥫Storage

This recipe really is better eaten on the day it is made, however if you do have leftovers, put them in an airtight container in the fridge and eat within 2 days.

The salad dressing will last longer if you have excess, just put into a glass jar with a lid and it will keep in the fridge for up to a month.