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Nadiya Hussain’s Thai Cucumber Salad

Bursting with fresh, aromatic flavours, this cucumber salad from Nadiya Hussain's Fast Flavours is a budget-friendly twist on the classic Thai dish of papaya salad.

From the book

Introduction

The first time I tasted a papaya salad I was out in Thailand, and I can’t imagine anything ever beating that disco that was happening in my mouth. Papaya is not so easy to come by here in the UK, and when I do see it, I often have to walk right on by as it can be pricey. But I wasn’t going to let an overpriced papaya get in the way of my delicious salad, so I’ve created my version using the humble cucumber. Crunchy, strong and aromatic: same disco, different crowd!

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Ingredients

100g green beans
2 cucumbers
2 tomatoes
1 large carrot
1 red onion
150g cooked prawns
60g roasted salted peanuts, plus 25g extra for serving
For the sauce:
2-4 bird’s eye chillies
3 cloves of garlic
1½ tbsp brown sugar
2 limes, juice only
3 tbsp fish sauce

Method

Start by cutting the green beans into 2–3cm pieces. Blanch in hot water for 4 minutes. Drain, run under cold water and leave to cool.

Peel the cucumbers and remove the central watery, seedy bit. Slice into thin strips. Pop into a large bowl. Halve the tomatoes and scoop out the centre. Slice very thin and pop into the bowl.

Peel and thinly slice the carrot into strips, same as the cucumber, and add to the bowl. Take the red onion, thinly slice and add to the bowl. Mix by hand. Add the prawns and peanuts and mix through.

Now put the chillies in a mortar and crush them, followed by the garlic. Add the brown sugar, lime juice and fish sauce and mix through.

Add the sauce to the salad and mix everything together. Serve with a sprinkling of peanuts.

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From the book: Nadiya’s Fast Flavours

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