Cucumber Carrot Salad

Long, thin strands of crunchy carrots and juicy cucumbers are tossed with an umami-rich dressing to make this refreshing and vibrant salad.

Course Salad

Diet Gluten Free, Low Calorie, Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Servings

Calories 202

Author Timothy Pakron

Ingredients

Dressing

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons ume plum vinegar
1½ teaspoons tamari
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
Freshly cracked black pepper

Salad

2 large or 3 medium carrots
2 large cucumbers

Optional Toppings

½ cup chopped fresh Thai basil or cilantro
Toasted sesame seeds or toasted peanuts roughly chopped
Flaky salt

Instructions

Make the dressing: In a large serving bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, vinegar, tamari, nutritional yeast, sesame oil, and black pepper to taste.
Make the salad: When ready to make the salad, prepare the carrot and cucumber noodles. First, peel both the carrots and cucumbers. Then use a hand-held julienne peeler to carve the carrots. Next, carve the cucumbers, making sure to stop once you hit the seeds. (Simply rotate the cucumber and continue to carve around the seeds.) Place the noodles on top of the dressing.
Serve the salad: When ready to serve, toss the noodles thoroughly. (Give it a taste and add more tamari or a pinch of salt, if needed.) Enjoy as is or garnish with optional toppings. Serve immediately!

Notes

You can use a hand-held julienne peeler to prepare the carrots and cucumbers (it is linked in the blog post!). You could also use a mandolin or a sprializer, if you have one. Lastly, a sharp knife can get the job done, if that is all you have, but you may not get beautiful thin strands like in the picture, which wouldn't be the end of the world. I bet you could simply roughly chop the cucumbers and carrots and it would still be delicious.

I love to use rainbow carrots, in particular the yellow and white varieties, along with the more traditional orange carrots, for a lovely variation in color.

This salad is best served immediately! The longer it sits, the juicer it becomes which is not ideal. It is still edible but fresh is best for this recipe, y'all. You could make the dressing in advance, if you'd like, which you can store in the fridge for up to 5 days, tightly sealed.

Nutrition