Thai cucumber salad- Crunchy, spicy and sweet!

There are so many things to love about this recipe! It looks great, tastes great and only takes a few minutes to make.

I adapted this recipe from a few different ideas and it really captured the balance of Thai food; sweet, salty, spicy, sour.

cucumber, peeled
cilantro
1 birds eye chile, finely diced
1 shallot, finely diced
roasted peanuts
1/2 a round of palm sugar
3 Tbsp of vinegar
1/2 lime, juiced
salt

1. Cut the cucumber into quarters, then into bite-sized chunks.

2. In a small saucepan, add the vinegar, palm sugar, chile, shallot and salt. Bring to a simmer and remove from the heat when the sugar has fully dissolved.

3. Once the dressing has cooled a bit, adjust the acidity with the lime juice. You want to be able to taste the sweetness but still have an acidic hit from the vinegar/lime. I find that one Thai chile has enough pleasant heat for this salad but you can always add more.

4. Chop your cilantro and mix in with your cucumber chunks.

5. Add your dressing and mix thoroughly. Top generously with chopped peanuts.

Bon appetit!

-TSP