Kachumber is a great Indian salad waiting to be discovered. Tomatoes, cucumber, onions and the bright tastes of cilantro and mint kicked up with a little green chili.
Like a Greek salad jacked up with Indian flavours. Perfect counterpoint to a curry or two.
You see bad versions of it at Indian lunch buffets. That’s probably what’s holding it back. It’s a great combination that’s worth trying out.
Kachumber salad is something you need to try
It’s a simple salad really. Like any summer salad. Except the dressing. That puts it firmly in Indian territory. Salad with spice. A bit of heat. Amazing stuff.
I like it all summer long. It’s great with tandoori chicken . Try that some time. Everybody smiles when that hits the table. A nice cold beer to wash it down. That’s good living.
A couple tips for better kachumber
I’ve added a couple of tricks to this recipe. Deflame the onions. Run them under cold water for about 10 seconds. Try it some time. It really works.
Use a bit of salt on the tomatoes and let them drain. That’s how you get rid of the big puddle of water in the bottom of the bowl. Try these two tricks next time you make pico. Better kachumber and better salsa.
kachumber - indian tomato and cucumber salad
Ingredients
The salad
- 1/2 white onion - coarsely diced
- 3-4 tomatoes - diced
- 1/2 large cucumber - diced
- 1/3 cup cilantro leaves - minced
- 2 Tbsp mint - minced
The dressing
- 1/4 tsp kashmiri mild chili powder - or a pinch of cayenne
- 1/4 tsp cumin powder
- 2 green finger hot chilies - or 1/2 jalapeño, minced
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice - about 1/3 of a lemon
- salt to taste
Instructions
The dressing
- Combine the chili powder, cumin, minced chilies, oil and lemon juice.
The salad
- Run the chopped white onion under cold running water for about 10 seconds. This mellows out the bite of the onion. A mesh strainer works well.
- Add about 3/4 tsp of salt to the tomatoes and place in the strainer over a bowl. Let stand for about 20 minutes to let liquid drain. Use these two tricks when you make salsa. It works.
- Combine the onion, tomato and the rest of the ingredients together and toss with the dressing. Taste and adjust for salt.
Nutrition
Chorizo potatoes. This is a riff on patatas bravas – one of the most famous tapas dishes of all time. It’s famous for a reason. It’s really good. But jack up the flavour with some chorizo. Drizzle it with some homemade aioli or garlic mayonnaise. That’s great.
This is comfort food really. Potatoes. Sausage. Mayonnaise. How can you go wrong? Delicious. Familiar. But different. Special.
There’s really only three things in this dish. A bit of spice. But the potatoes are roasted. The little bits of chorizo are bursts of flavour. And texture. Garlicky mayonnaise brings it all together.
Chorizo potatoes are about the chorizo
To get this right you have to get the chorizo right. Funny thing. You need to cook the chorizo to death for this to work. Seriously. It’s completely counter-intuitive.
Somewhere along the way it goes from bits of sausage to these little nubbins of concentrated flavour. Sausage flavour bombs. I don’t really understand why. But it works. Taste it along the way. You’ll see.
Boil the potatoes first
I use this trick often. For duck fat roasted potatoes. For any roasted potatoes really. It’s simple. Boil your potatoes before you roast them. Don’t boil them to death. Just enough.
That way you don’t have to worry about cooking the potatoes through. You can focus on getting the outside just right. The inside is already taken care of. Twice cooked potatoes. Works every time.
