Kachumber Salad (Crunchy Cucumber, Tomato and Onion Salad with Lemon and Roasted Cumin)
A cool, crunchy salad of cucumber, tomato and red onion with green chilli, coriander and lemon. It comes together in 15 minutes and sits well beside rice, daal or grilled meat.
Ingredients
Equipment: Sharp knife, chopping board, small dry pan, large mixing bowl
Method
Toast the cumin seeds in a small dry pan over medium-low heat, shaking often, until they smell nutty and turn a shade darker. Tip them onto a plate to cool, then crush them coarsely with the back of a spoon.
Put the chopped onion in a large bowl with the lemon juice and half the salt. Stir and leave for 5 minutes; this softens the raw bite of the onion.
Cut the cucumbers and tomatoes into even 1 cm cubes. Scoop out the watery tomato seeds so the salad stays crisp rather than soggy.
Add the cucumber, tomato, green chilli, coriander and mint to the onions.
Sprinkle over the crushed cumin, chaat masala, black pepper and the remaining salt. Toss gently until everything is lightly coated in the lemon juice.
Taste and adjust with more salt, lemon or chilli. Serve within 30 minutes, topped with pomegranate seeds if using.
Cooking tips
- Salt draws water out of cucumber and tomato, so add most of the salt to the onions first and toss the whole salad just before serving.
- Cut all vegetables to the same size so each spoonful has a bit of everything.
- Chill the vegetables for 20 minutes beforehand if the weather is hot; a cold kachumber tastes fresher.
- Use firm, slightly underripe tomatoes; very ripe ones turn mushy when diced.
Substitutions
- Replace red onion with white onion; rinse it under cold water for a milder flavour.
- Use lime instead of lemon, or 1 tbsp white vinegar in a pinch.
- Swap fresh mint for extra coriander if you have no mint.
- Leave out the green chilli, or use a pinch of red chilli flakes for gentler heat.
Serve with
"Serve alongside biryani, pulao, daal chawal or grilled kababs. It also works stuffed into warm pita or spooned over plain rice with a bowl of yogurt."
Storage
"Best eaten fresh. If needed, keep the undressed chopped vegetables in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 day, and keep the dressed salad for no more than 4 hours."
Reheating
"Serve cold; do not reheat. Drain any liquid that collects and refresh with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt."
Nutrition per serving, estimated
Estimated from the ingredient list. Values vary with brands and portion size.
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