I thought it would be great for January to highlight this beautiful Thai cucumber salad, as people are looking for fresh-tasting foods when they reboot in the new year.
You can serve it with my tofu satay, exotic Thai rice bowl salad, or any of your favorite Thai or Southeast Asian dishes. I kept all the flavor while greatly reducing the sugar, adding fresh herbs for brightness. For a completely sugar-free version, omit the agave syrup and use stevia equal to 2 tsp sugar, or to your taste.
Suitable for:
vegan, gluten-free, reduced-sugar, low-sodium (with salt omitted) diets
Not for:
migraine diets
You might also like:
Thai cucumber salad from Paleo cupboard
Spicy cucumber salad with peanuts from Cooking Light
Thai-Inspired Hydrating Cucumber Salad with Roasted Spiced Chickpeas from Oh She Glows
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp agave syrup (use stevia for low-sugar and completely sugar-free diets)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt (omit for low-sodium diet)
- 3 tbsp filtered or spring water
- 2 cucumbers English or Persian if available
- 1 shallots
- 10 fresh mint leaves (1/4 cup)
- 6 sprigs cilantro (1/4 cup) fresh coriander
- 1 Habañero or other hot chiles
- 1 ounce cashews toasted (2 tbsp), or peanuts
- Mix the first four ingredients in a serving bowl until well blended.
- Prep each ingredient and then add to the bowl: Peel the cucumbers, remove the ends, and cut in half lengthwise. Use a grapefruit spoon to remove the seeds.
- Peel the shallot and mince. Fry it lightly in a small nonstick skillet until golden brown with just a touch of oil to keep it from sticking.
- Wash the pepper, cut off the stem, and thinly slice into discs.
- Wash and dry the herbs; mince finely.
- Stir everything except the nuts together in the bowl.
- Let it stand 15 minutes for the flavors to develop. Garnish with chopped nuts.
Per serving:
- 104 calories (70 calories with stevia instead of agave syrup)
- 3 g fat (lower fat by using light coconut milk)
- 2 g saturated fat
- 1 g monounsaturated fat
- 0 g polyunsaturated fat
- 0 g trans fat
- 0 g cholesterol
- 286 mg sodium (5 mg without salt added)
- 304 mg potassium
- 18 g carbohydrate (10 g without agave syrup)
- 1 g fiber
- 12 g sugars (4 g without agave syrup)
- 3 g protein
- 3 Weight Watchers Points Plus (2 without agave and salt)
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“284 mg sodium (made with regular cream cheese)” is listed in the nutritional info but I didn’t find any cream cheese mentioned in the recipe. Is that referring to the other side items mentioned in the comments? Also, agave nectar IS a sugar so I’m confused by the inclusion of this in the Sugar Free category in the “Filed Under” section. While agave is a little lower in sugars and calories than table sugar, it still has a GL of 45 which is not “Sugar-free” since it is an added sugar. That’s the same as 2 slices of various breads and even higher than some breads.
Judith, so sorry for any confusion here. I will double-check and update the nutritional information for this recipe. I used to use very small amounts of agave nectar in recipes, which I consider to be refined-sugar-free. My newer recipes will only use stevia. You could absolutely sweeten this with liquid stevia to your taste to eliminate the sugar altogether. Thanks for the comments!
That dressing looks really good! There is a Thai restaurant near me that has the BEST dressing ever, and it looks exactly like yours! I wonder if it’s similar… I’m going to have to try and see if it is!
Thanks Kate! Yes, it’s yummy.
I love your version of this recipe Stephanie! So much lower in sugar than typical.
Yummy! I love a good fresh, spicy cucumber salad.