Thai Cucumber Carrot Salad

This naturally gluten free Thai Cucumber Carrot Salad is a North American version of the famous Som Tai. Traditionally made with green papaya this version uses readily available cucumber and carrot. They give the salad its’ desired crunchy texture and the sauce, made with lime juice and fish sauce, makes it uniquely Thai.

This salad can be part of any Thai meal. When feeding a large crowd Thai cooks simply add more dishes increasing the possibilities for more unique flavour combinations. This salad is a fabulous contrast to creamy Yellow Chicken Curry. If you're ready to make an entire feast check out this post, Thai Dinner Club menu.

Ingredients

Thai cooking is all about the balance, sweet and sour with hot and salty. The dishes are all served together and complement each other in a harmonious layering of flavour upon flavour. Typically diners combine any of the dishes and condiments on their own plate to achieve the desired taste.

• garlic
• lime juice
• fish sauce
• sugar
• Thai bird chiles - Buy these fresh and keep them in the freezer. They can be chopped or grated from frozen.
• long English cucumber
• carrot

See recipe card for exact amounts.

Substitutions

Fish sauce - This ingredient is essential for Thai cuisine and is used in almost every dish. For anyone who can't eat fish make this vegan fish sauce substitute and you can all enjoy Thai cuisine.

Top Tip

Make this salad. It is so simply yet people ask for this recipe, seriously!

A Travel Tale from Thailand

From time to time I write a travel post for my friend Sue over at Travel Tales of Life. In this post, Thai Red Shrimp Curry, I wrote about our adventures in Thailand many years ago.

Thai Cucumber Carrot Salad

This Thai Cucumber Carrot Salad is a North American version of the famous Thai salad known as Som Tai. It's a side dish that packs a punch!

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Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: thai

Keyword: Thai Cucumber Carrot Salad

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 people

Author: Cinde Little

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 garlic clove, minced traditionally mashed to a paste
• ▢ 2 tablespoon fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)
• ▢ 1½ tablespoon fish sauce
• ▢ 1 tablespoon sugar
• ▢ 1 Thai bird chile*, sliced and seeded (or jalapeno or serrano chile)
• ▢ 1 long English cucumber, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
• ▢ 1 carrot, coarsely shredded

OPTIONAL

• ▢ soft-leaf lettuce for serving

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Instructions

• In a bowl stir together garlic, lime juice, fish sauce sugar and chile until sugar is dissolved.
• Add cucumber and carrot to garlic mixture. Toss well.
• Serve as part of a Thai meal or make individual portions serving some in soft-lettuce cups.

Notes

Thai bird chiles are small and hot. They can be keep in the freezer and used frozen. Cutting larger pieces makes them easy to remove if you want less heat. Substitute jalapeno or serrano chiles if you can't find them or are worried they will be too hot.