Cucumber Salad with Roasted Peanuts and Chile

cooking.nytimes.com

Easy to assemble but far from basic, this cucumber salad delivers a riot of flavors and textures with snappy cucumbers, velvety peanut sauce, crunchy cilantro-peanut topping and zingy chile oil. The details make all the difference: First, salting the cucumbers mutes the fruit’s subtly bitter notes while heightening flavor. Next, the simple peanut sauce adds richness to the cool cucumbers. (Make a large batch and store it in the fridge to drizzle over vegetables, chicken and salads.) Finally, a flurry of finely chopped peanuts, cilantro and red-pepper flakes gets dusted over the salad in layers to disperse flavor. Easy to assemble but far from basic, this cucumber salad delivers a riot of flavors and textures with snappy cucumbers, velvety peanut sauce, crunchy cilantro-peanut topping and zingy chile oil. The details make all the difference: First, salting the cucumbers mutes the fruit’s subtly bitter notes while heightening flavor. Next, the simple peanut sauce adds richness to the cool cucumbers. (Make a large batch and store it in the fridge to drizzle over vegetables, chicken and salads.) Finally, a flurry of finely chopped peanuts, cilantro and red-pepper flakes gets dusted over the salad in layers to disperse flavor.

6 Persian cucumbers (about 1 pound), cut lengthwise into thin spears, then cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces

Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

¼ cup salted, roasted peanuts

¼ cup cilantro leaves

1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

3 tablespoons natural unsalted peanut butter

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 small garlic clove, grated

Chile oil, store-bought or homemade, for serving (optional)

Directions at cooking.nytimes.com

Never lose a recipe again, not even if the original website goes away! Use the Copy Me That button to create your own complete copy of any recipe that you find online. Learn more! It's free!

Page footer