While I was at the grocery store I noticed that they still had cheap pineapples and I remembered coming across the idea of a Thai pineapple and cucumber salad while I was researching the Thai pineapple fried rice that I made recently. Using pineapple in a salad had sounded like a good idea and I remembered wanting to try it out. I started with the base of the salad being the pineapple and the cucumber and from there I added a bunch of fresh herbs including some green onions, cilantro and mint. For the dressing I went with some pretty classic Thai flavours including fish sauce, lime juice, a birds eye chili and some palm sugar to round things out. I also had a large red chili that needed to be used so I threw that in as well though the birds eye chili certainly provided enough heat. The cucumber and pineapple salad turned out really nice! With both the cucumber and the pineapple being nice and cool and juicy this salad is perfect for warm summer days. The dressing was a really nice balance of salty, tart, and spicy hot and the sweetness of the pineapple balanced it out really nicely. The chopped up birds eye chili was one of my favorite parts of this salad as every once in a while you would get hit by and intense burst of heat but then the next bite would be full of juicy, quenching pineapple and cucumber.
Thai Cucumber and Pineapple Salad
ingredients
- 1/2 pineapple (peeled, cored and cut into bite sized pieces)
- 1/2 cucumber (peeled and cut into bite sized pieces)
- 2 green onions (sliced)
- 1 handful cilantro (coarsely chopped)
- 1 handful mint (coarsely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 lime (juice and zest)
- 1 teaspoon palm sugar (grated or sugar)
- 1 birds eye chili (chopped)
- 1 handful peanuts (roasted and chopped, optional)
directions
- Mix the pineapple, cucumber, green onions, cilantro and mint in a large bowl.
- Mix the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and chili in a small bowl.
- Toss the salad in the dressing to coat.
- Serve garnished with chopped roasted peanuts.
yum! Love the thai flavours in it and of course the tangy pineapple. I always associate pineapple with sunshine too!
Excellent salad, looks beautiful, awesome presentation!
yummo!! I love pineapple. Might make this when summer comes back around
Oh, wow! Perfect combo – sweet, spicy and that crunch of peanut with the cool mint thing – yes!
You like it hot 🙂 I absolutely love the colors. Add some shredded chicken and a little dry roasted jasmin rice and you'll have some Vietnamese gỏi. It's oh so good. Check my veggie version at http://www.phamfatale.com/id_349/title_Bi-Chay-Shredded-Tofu-and-Crispy-Mock-Pork/
Yummy! This is one of my favourite.
You're getting more like a Thai now.
looks and sounds delicious. love the combination of flavors, sweet and spicy
Beautiful salad. Never thought of this combination before, which is why I like reading your blog. I always learn so much. Great Recipes!!!
Great balance of tastes here!!! Heat and cold….perfect!!!
Such an awesome color combo there Kevin!!
A delightful salad! Very refreshing! a great combo…
Cheers,
Rosa
I love the mint leaf perched so daintily in the front.
The picture is wonderful as always…I love pineapple in salads, its such a fresh juicy bite…
Such great flavours for a refreshing salad. Delicious and love the pics.
it looks like a medley of sweet sour and spicy!! I love it!
What a gorgeous salad! I make Asian food frequently and am always looking for a good salad to serve alongside.
WOW! I love those colors!
Look at those colors! Sounds wonderful!
Sounds divine!
Char
Hi there,
I just stumbled upon your blog and I am going to add you to my favorites so that I can keep coming back. Your food photographs are awesome and your recipes come across as simple to follow. I love how diverse they are!
~First timer
Now that is vibrant!! I love the mix of thai flavors in this salad! great salad for summer!
Wow – what a stunning photo Kevin! I am loving the colors and flavors used int his salad.
I adore thai cucumber salads and I'm sure the addition of pineapple would only make me love it more!
I have pineapples coming out of the ying yang. Trying to find new uses for them because one can eat so many refrigerator pickles before it gets old. Love the idea!
Sounds good. I do not like fish sauce, so i would do it without. love the peanuts in it.
Wonderful fresh flavors.
This was a terrific salad! Couldn't find a red chile so I used a jalapeno. Reminds me of a salad I make every summer with watermelon, cucmber, mint and balsamic vinegar. Thanks for the recipe.
I love the beautiful colors here!
sounds like an interesting flavor combo. btw your pics are beautiful. thanks for stopping by my blog!
This looks so refreshing. There is no food better than Thai, I'm still learning how to get the flavors right but it is the only type of food I'm willing to eat out. Can't wait to give this one a try.
This was delicious and pretty- I liked it so much that I'll be making it again to bring a bbq next week. Thanks!
Oh, yummy! I saw this was on Saveur.com today, congratulations! And I really need to make this!
I just made this and yum yum yum! I did not have fresh pineapple, so I used a drained can of chunks, and soy sauce since I didnt have fish sauce. I also through in a red bell pepper for color. I will be making this again soon! Thank you!
I'd like to make this but I have a question. One of the ingredients is cilantro. You just say a handful, no chopping and the picture shows it's not been chopped.But your instructions also say to chop the mint, but the picture also shows the mint as whole. So is the mint chopped or not since the picture shows it as whole?
Pal Ashford: I like to leave the chop of both the cilantro and the mint to be fairly coarse in this salad and then garnish with a few whole leaves for presentation. I have updated the recipe to indicate that. Enjoy!
Thanks
I made this and I really loved it. Especially with the accompaniment to my main dish of Thai Chicken Curry. I loved the sweet and tangy flavors that offset the spice of my Thai chicken. It worked so well.
Pal Ashford: I'm glad you liked it and it would go well with a Thai curry!