Easy Carrot Cucumber Salad With Tahini Dressing

😋Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• A refreshing and light salad that can be enjoyed all year round
• Lots of juice and crunch, the tahini dressing is simple, mildly sweet but bold, if you love the flavor of sesames, try this cold spinach sesame salad - it's amazing!
• Serve as a side dish or can be turned into a substantial meal (see serving suggestions)
• Dietary friendly - vegan, dairy free, nut free, corn free and gluten free, similar to my amazing Chinese Xinjiang salad.

🥒Ingredients You’ll Need

Carrots should be peeled and then grated.

Lebanese cucumbers (aka Persian cucumbers) are also chopped. If you can't find these types of cucumbers, a telegraph cucumber can be used. Otherwise if using cucumbers with tough seeds, scrape those out. I also use these to make my delicious cucumber onion salad with vinegar and sugar.

Spring onions are sliced, using both the white and green parts, on an angle. They have a sweet pungent flavor which complements the tahini dressing.

Tahini Dressing 

Tahini is a paste made from ground sesame seeds and will add a mild nutty flavor. It is commonly found in Middle Eastern and Asian cuisine. It can be found at your local supermarket or purchase tahini online.

Fresh lime juice for sourness and builds flavor in this salad. 

Fresh garlic clove and ginger are to be peeled and minced prior to adding to the dressing. 

Black sesame seeds add a lovely contrast in color, only a small amount is needed. White sesame seeds can also be used.

Soy sauce or tamari sauce add the salty umami component.

🥒 How to Make Carrot Cucumber Salad with Tahini Dressing

Step 1 - In a large bowl, combine the cucumber, carrots and spring onions.

Step 2 - In a small bowl, whisk together the salad dressing ingredients. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Serve cold.

Tip: toss this salad 30 minutes prior to serving to let the flavors meld. The toss again just before serving.

🥕Variations and Serving Suggestions

This salad can easily accommodate additional ingredients such as bean sprouts, red cabbage, peanuts and radish.

To make this salad more substantial, try adding cooked noodles (similar to this glass noodles salad) or toss plain rice (try this Instant Pot basmati rice) and chickpeas.

When adding additional ingredients, you may need to adjust the dressing.

You could enjoy it with some tofu, try it with this Asian tofu.

❓FAQ

🥗Related Recipes

Try this similar spicy cucumber salad or this Din Tai Fung cucumber, or even this Vietnamese cucumber salad by Rachna Cooks.

If you're into tahini, try my versatile miso citrus tahini dressing.

You might also like brown rice salad with chickpeas or rice vermicelli noodle bowl.

Or try my oil free Asian brussels sprouts.

Recipe