Asian Cucumber Sesame Salad: Bright flavours and crunchy textures!
This salad is the blend of salty and tangy flavors with bright colors and flavors. Between the carrots and the cucumber I’m loving the crunch you get in every bite. It’s been a couple months now and I’m still in love with my Spiralizer because I’ve been able to make sooo many fresh and healthy zoodle recipes like this one. If you don’t have a Spiralizer yet though you can still make this by using a julienne peeler in its place.
So here’s to eating well and doing what we can for ourselves in the little ways that we can. Enjoy!
Asian Cucumber Sesame Salad
Asian Cucumber Sesame Salad: Bright flavours and crunchy textures!
Ingredients
Salad
- 2 large seedless cucumbers
- 2 large carrots
- 1 sweet pepper, chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, white or black
- 1 green onion sliced, use the green part only for low FODMAP
- 2 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
Dressing
- 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice, about half a lime
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Aminos for paleo, or gluten free soy sauce/tamari
- 1 tablespoons maple , can sub with honey or sugar
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- pinch red pepper flakes, or to taste
- more salt to taste if needed
Instructions
Salad
- Trim the ends of the cucumber and spiralize the cucumbers or use a julienne peeler. Place the sliced cucumbers in a colander and toss them with the 1 teaspoon of salt. Let the cucumbers sit in the colander in the sink for at least 5 minutes to draw out excess water/moisture..
- While the cucumber is sitting, spiralize or peel the carrots and chop the sweet peppers. You can also use this time to prepare the dressing.
- Once the cucumber has drained for 15 minutes, spread them out on a layer of paper towels, or a clean dish towel, and gently pat out as much moisture as you can.
- Place the cucumber noodles, carrots, and pepper in mixing bowl large enough to hold the salad. Add 2-3 tablespoons of the dressing and toss to combine, coating the salad. Top with the sliced green onion, sesame seeds, and cilantro and serve immediately.
Notes
This salad is best eaten on the day of. If you do save some for later make sure to store in an airtight container and you may need to drain some water before eating.
Elizabeth Tomlin says
Delicious, bright and fresh. Great way to use an abundance of cucumbers 🙂
Sarah Nevins says
Thanks Elizabeth!
Lauren says
I think adding tofu to this would make a fabulous veg main dish!
Sarah says
Love that idea!
Gretchen Williams says
When you say while the cucumbers are draining, what are that draining? you have written to spiralize them with salt..then let them drain…
Sarah says
Hi Gretchen! Sorry about that – draining is definitely not the right word here. The reason you need to salt the cucumbers and then let them sit in a colander is so that the salt draws out excess moister/water. Cucumber has such a high water content that it can make for a very mushy salad.
Lauren says
Will it make the salad salty? Also, curious what I can use instead of honey?
Sarah says
In regards to the tofu – I guess it really just depends on how salted the tofu you’re adding is. That being said I doubt adding pre-salted tofu will make things too salty here. As for the honey you can always swap it out for a little bit of maple syrup or white cane sugar.
Denise Corklin says
I used monk fruit.l.worked great
Sarah Nevins says
That’s great to know! Thanks Denise!
Courtney says
I came across your blog when I was researching Low Fodmap recipes on Pinterest. When I started reading this post and saw that your boyfriend(?) has EDS! I was just diagnosed with EDS last summer and it’s been a blessing and a curse. I know now where my pain comes from- but now I know I just have to live with it. Either way I’ll try and rally. Recently I’ve been having insane stomach issues and decided to try the Low fodmap diet to see if it would help my symptoms. Does Mike suffer from the same due to his EDS? No worries if it’s too personal, just looking for some peace of mind!!
Sarah says
Hi Courtney! Not too personal at all! I’m always ready to help/talk about in case what we’ve gone through might be helpful to anyone else. I totally know what you mean about the diagnosis being both a blessing and a curse. It’s nice being able to put a name to a problem, but at the same time it’s not like there’s too much that you can actually do about any of it. Out of all of the health problems that Mike’s had EDS is definitely one of the more ambiguous ones.
Have you ever been diagnosed with Celiac Disease/a gluten intolerance? It’s been a few years now since Mike was diagnosed with EDS and it’s incredible how many people I’ve met/talked to since then that have both EDS and problems with gluten (also POTS is one that comes up with those a lot). Not long after he was diagnosed with EDS we had an appointment with his gasteroenterologist who even mentioned the connection between patients he sees with EDS, POTS and Celiac Disease. He was a little reluctant to mention it because there wasn’t yet proof to back up the claim (both POTS & EDS are just recently getting more attention/diagnosis) but that’s what he noticed with his own patients. Even the ones who haven’t been diagnosed tend to do better after cutting it out from their diets. I just wanted to mention that in case you haven’t so you can talk about it with your doctor.
I think since EDS affects connective tissue and collagen in the body it weakens the stomach lining which then leads to all kinds of IBS and inflammation in the body. It’s really hard to figure out with Mike which of his problems caused his other problems but I do think that the main thing to keep in mind is that his personal treatment is the same no matter what and that’s through his diet. There are some things relating to EDS that probably won’t be impacted too much through diet but if you’ve got problems with chronic fatigue and joint pain there’s a chance you might benefit from keep track of what you can eat.
Low FODMAP is a really great place to start. It removes a lot of the more difficult to digest foods and gives your stomach a chance to heal/get stronger. Before Mike first started eating low FODMAP he was in constant pain. After the first day on the diet he started to feel a little better. I’ve also gotten a lot of emails from people with fatigue, chronic pain, brain fog etc who have said how much better they feel after eating low FODMAP for a time.
After about 6-8 months eating low FODMAP Mike was able to reintroduce more foods back to plate. He can eat things like garlic/onions no problem now but we’ve been able to narrow down a few foods that cause his inflammation/arthritis pains to flare up.
The hard things is that it is different for everyone. Everyone has different trigger foods – Mike struggles with too many nuts/eggs but someone else might have more issues with beans/dairy. I recommend keeping a food diary like this if you don’t already https://familydoctor.org/nutrition-keeping-a-food-diary/ It helps to be able to look back and find certain patters between what you eat/how you feel.
Sorry if this is too much info! I just get really into the subject of diet/health whenever it comes up because I just find it so incredible/frustrating/fascinating. If you ever have any questions/want to vent about it I’m always happy to help! (I hope that answered your questions!)
Chris Bennett says
Would trading zucchini for the cucumbers work?
Sarah says
That would work!
Beverley Prowse says
Hi Sarah
I pinned your delicious looking recipe a while ago and would now like to make it. I have a small question. You mention 2 whole cucumbers. Do you mean what we in UK call baby cucumbers? A standard British cucumber is normally about a foot long so I thought I would check first. Many thanks for your lovely recipes (I’m GF) which make eating a lot more of a pleasure and less of an obstacle course!
Bev
Sarah says
Hi Bev! Good questions! If you’re using the really long cucumbers I’d just use 1 whole one. Hope you like it as much as we do!