Smashed Cucumber & Cashew Salad
This smashed cucumber & cashew salad is super easy to make & is packed full of flavour! It goes great with homemade curries & leftover roasted meats.
Here’s a simple smashed cucumber & cashew salad that’s perfect with grilled & roasted meats, pan fried fish & homemade curries! It’s even good on its’ own. There’s smashed chunks of cucumber, toasted cashew nuts, a nutty sesame & lime dressing & a sprinkle of chopped herbs. If you’ve never tried smashed cucumber before, give it a go, it’s delicious!
For more vibrant & tasty salads, take a look at our collection of lunch recipes! And for more sides to try, check out our collection of side dish recipes.
Components Of This Salad
This cucumber salad is super simple, takes very little time to make & contains only a few ingredients! It’s fresh, vibrant & jam packed full of flavour. Here’s what goes in it…
- Smashed Cucumber – We’re giving a whole cucumber a good whack, to break it open then we’re chopping it into rough, bitesize pieces. To improve the cucumber’s flavour, we’re going to be salting it before we use it for the salad.
- Lime & Sesame Dressing – This is a super simple salad dressing that’s made with toasted cumin & sesame seeds, lime juice, sugar, oil & chilli flakes.
- Toasted Cashews – These add some crunch & nuttiness to our cucumber salad. Feel free to use a different nut if you’d prefer though, or leave them out entirely.
- Fresh Herbs – Some finely chopped coriander adds extra flavour! If you’re not a coriander fan, feel free to use parsley instead.
How To Smash Cucumber
Smashed cucumber originates from Asia & is exactly what it sounds like! Here, we take a cucumber & smash it with something heavy like a rolling pin, meat tenderising hammer or saucepan to split it open then roughly chop it into pieces. Prepping cucumber this way means that you get these rough chunks of veg that soak up even more dressing!
- First, place the cucumber onto a chopping board then use a rolling pin or a meat tenderising hammer to whack it all over, until it splits open.
- Next, trim each end off the cucumber then cut it in half down the length. Chop the cucumber into rough 1 inch pieces then place into a mixing bowl.
- Sprinkle the cucumber with table salt, mix to combine then leave to salt for 20 minutes.
This draws moisture out of the cucumber & enhances it’s flavour. - Once the cucumber has been salted, they’ll be some liquid in the mixing bowl. Drain this off but keep the cucumber pieces in the bowl.
- Add dressing & any other salad ingredients to the cucumber, toss to combine then serve!
Frequently Asked Questions
Smashed cucumber salad is best eaten straight away but any leftovers should be stored in the fridge & are best eaten within a day.
Salting draws out some of the moisture from the cucumbers, which enhances its’ flavour. You don’t need to use a lot of salt though, I use half a teaspoon of fine table salt per large cucumber. Just make sure to drain the liquid from your cucumbers before serving!
Smashing cucumbers makes these rough, irregularly shaped pieces that have a large surface area, which means that they’ll pick up more dressing!
More Salads & Side Dishes To Try!
- Everything Bagel Salad With A Cream Cheese Schmear
- Courgette, Mint & Feta Couscous Salad
- Roast Chicken & Giant Couscous Salad
- Watermelon, Honey Glazed Halloumi & Za’atar Salad
- Sour Cream & Chive New Potato Salad
- Courgette Tzatziki
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Smashed Cucumber & Cashew Salad
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Rolling Pin/Meat Tenderising Hammer (See Notes)
- Small Frying Pan
- Pestle & Mortar
- Small Baking Tray
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 Large Cucumber
- ½ tsp Table Salt
- 50 g Cashews
- 1 tbsp Finely Chopped Coriander
Dressing
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 2 tsp Sesame Seeds
- 1 tbsp Groundnut Oil (Or Veg Oil)
- 1 tbsp Fresh Lime Juice
- 1 tsp Caster Sugar
- ¼ tsp Chilli Flakes
Instructions
Salad Prep
- Preheat an oven to 200°c/180°c fan (392°f/356°f).This is to toast the cashews!
- Place the cucumber onto a chopping board then use a rolling pin or a meat tenderising hammer to whack it, until it splits open.
- Next, trim each end off the cucumber then cut it in half down the length. Chop the cucumber into rough 1 inch pieces then place into a mixing bowl.
- Sprinkle the cucumber with the table salt, mix to combine then leave to salt for 20 minutes.This draws moisture out of the cucumber & enhances it's flavour.
- Next, place the cashews onto a small baking tray, bake in the preheated oven for 4-6 minutes until golden brown & toasted then leave to cool completely. Roughly chop once cool.
Salad Dressing
- Add the cumin seeds into a small frying pan then cook over a medium heat until toasted & fragrant. This will only take a minute or so. Once toasted, add the cumin seeds into a pestle & mortar then crush into a coarse powder.
- Next, add the sesame seeds into the frying pan then cook over a medium heat until golden brown.
- Add the sesame seeds, oil, lime juice, sugar & chilli flakes into the crushed cumin seeds, stir to combine then set aside.
Salad
- Once the cucumber has been salted, they'll be some liquid in the mixing bowl. Drain this off but keep the cucumber pieces in the bowl.
- Next, add the dressing, chopped cashews & coriander into the mixing bowl with the cucumber then stir to combine. Serve immediately.
