Creamy Cucumber Salad With Lemon Yogurt Dressing

This is the sort of salad that’s ideal to serve on the side of rich roasts roasts like Pork with Crispy Crackling or a Slow Cooked Lamb Shoulder. It’s versatile enough to be equally at home alongside other cuisines, like spice-laden Indian curries such as Chicken Tikka Masala or Goan Fish Curry, or Middle Eastern food like Chicken Shawarma.

Creamy Cucumber Salad

We don’t ordinarily associated creamy dressings with the word “refreshing”, but that’s exactly what this salad is! The cucumber salad dressing is made with yogurt so while you get the lovely creamy texture, it’s also tangy and fresh, rather than rich and heavy. The addition of mint really drives home the refreshing flavours in this salad. And while it is a “western style” salad, the flavours in it make it ideal for serving alongside spice heavy cuisines like Indian food and Middle Eastern food, and meat heavy mains like roasts.

What you need for Creamy Cucumber Salad

Here’s what you need to make this Creamy Cucumber Salad. Simple, easy, and fantastically refreshing!

Best Cucumber for Creamy Cucumber Salad

This cucumber salad can be made with any type of cucumber but I think the best cucumber for this particular type of salad are the Telegraph / English cucumbers – the long ones. These cucumbers are not quite as juicy on the inside so when you bite into them, you still get the refreshing crunch but less water so it doesn’t dilute the creamy dressing when you chew away! However, this salad is still terrific made with the more common variety of shorter cucumbers (called Lebanese cucumbers in Australia). In fact, I make this more frequently with these because they are typically very good value year round, whereas the long cucumbers are more expensive certain times throughout the year. Make this creamy cucumber salad with 2 long cucumbers, or 3 medium cucumbers.

How to make it

Nothing ground breaking here! Just mix the lemon, yogurt, garlic and olive oil to make the Lemon Yogurt Dressing. Then toss with the cumber, onion and mint.

What to serve with Creamy Cucumber Salad

This is the sort of salad that is right at home at a summer banquet! Imagine a table laden with Beef Brisket with BBQ Sauce, piles of BBQ Pulled Pork, sticky Grilled Chicken and sausages. Serve it as a lighter, more refreshing alternative to traditional Coleslaw or Potato Salad made with mayonnaise based dressings. For cosy Sunday Suppers, have it as a side to meat heavy mains such as Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder or Lamb Leg – mint and lamb are best mates! Or go for Greek vibes – the lemon garlic flavour in the dressing is totally on theme. Try a main of Greek Marinated Chicken, Chicken Souvlaki or Greek Meatballs (Keftedes). And the other cuisine that the flavours of this salad really go well with is Middle Eastern food. The refreshing flavour of this salad goes really well with the spice heavy flavours of food like Chicken Shawarma and Lamb Shawarma, Moroccan Meatballs, Lamb Koftas and Chicken Doner Kebab! – Nagi x