How To Make Kakdi Koshimbir – Indian Cucumber Salad

Summertime can be filled with fresh cucumbers from the garden or the Farmers’ Markets. Indian Cucumber Salad, or Kakdi Koshimber is a unique twist on a standard dish using some flavors from Asia such as cumin seed and toasted peanuts.

This recipe is naturally gluten free.

Watch A Video

Here is a video of 2 Cooks in the Kitchen making Indian Cucumber Salad.

Ingredients For Indian Cucumber Salad

• 1/3 Cup Peanuts, roasted and ground
• 2 Cucumbers, seeded and chopped
• 2 TblsGhee
• 2 tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1 Serrano Chile
• 2 Tbls Chopped Cilantro
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar

Toast the Peanuts

We’ll start by putting the peanuts in a dry frying pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently until they start to darken and smell aromatic.

Grind the Peanuts

We let the peanuts cool a bit and then put them in the spice grinder and grind them. It’s okay if you end up with some larger pieces of peanut.

Peel the Cucumbers

We’ll use a vegetable peeler to peel the cucumbers. The peels can be a little bit bitter so we want to remove them.

Seed the Cucumbers

We’ll cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise and then use a spoon to scrape out the seeds.

Cut the Cucumbers

Next we will slice the cucumbers lengthwise again, line them up and cut bite sized pieces off them. We’ll put the cucumber pieces in our salad mixing bowl.

Toast the Cumin Seeds and Serrano In Ghee

Next we’ll put a knob of ghee into our frying pan over medium heat and get it melted. We’ll add our cumin seeds and let them cook in the flavored butter. We are also going to cut a serrano chile into four or so slivers and throw that into the pan while the seeds cook. You’ll hear the seeds popping while they cook. You’ll need to stir this a lot to keep from burning the seeds.

Remove the Serrano

Once the seeds are cooked and very aromatic we can remove the serrano pieces. They were just there to give the salad a little heat and a little flavor without being overwhelming.

Pour Over the Cucumbers

Now we’ll pour the hot ghee and cumin seeds over the cucumber pieces and mix well.

Add the Ground Peanuts

Next we’ll add the ground peanuts to the salad mixing bowl and mix everything together.

Add Chopped Cilantro

Our next ingredient is chopped cilantro leaves. We’ll pick the leaves off the stems and chop them up. If you or someone in your household has an aversion to cilantro you can substitute mint leaves.

Salt and Sugar

Now we add our salt and sugar. It is common in Asian recipes for sugar to be used just like salt to bring out all the other flavors. We’re just adding a little of each and we’ll stir it in.

Mix and Serve

We’ll give this a last good mix and then serve our Indian Cucumber Salad. If you are making this ahead you can just cover and keep in the refrigerator. Any leftovers will keep well in the refrigerator for a couple days.

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Here are some other recipes that use cucumbers:

• Sunomono
• Chinese Smashed Cucumber Salad

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