cucumber salad recipe jamaican
News

A Recipe for Jamaican Cucumber Salad

By: Nigel Spence - February 1, 2021 - 1:39 pm

With the Paleo diet gaining even more momentum moving into the new year, there is a constant search for new and interesting side dishes that are not heavily processed to accompany the main dishes at the table. This recipe looks and tastes exciting and is a refreshing accompaniment to grilled meats and fish.

It lightens up the palate and brightens up the plate all at the same time. The flavor profile is so complex and makes the dish much more interesting than the sum of its parts. If your main dish is already high on the heat scale, you can cut back or omit the Scotch Bonnet peppers from the recipe.

You may add scotch bonnet salt instead of fresh scotch bonnet peppers to further step up the flavor (Recipe follows).  If you do, then just omit adding salt to the dish otherwise.

Enjoy!

JAMAICAN KUKUMBER (CUCUMBER) SALAD

Ingredients

  • 2 large Cucumbers
  • 2 tablespoons Lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon Mustard oil
  • 1 teaspoon Sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon Scotch Bonnet pepper, fine chopped
  • ½ teaspoon Sugar
  • ½ teaspoon fresh Ginger paste
  • 1 tablespoon Sesame seeds
  • Kosher Salt

Trim and discard ends of cucumbers. If you are lucky enough to find English cucumbers at the market and you own a mandolin, you can now slice the cucumbers into almost paper-thin sheets. Otherwise, with regular cucumbers, just cut each cucumber in half lengthwise and then into thin slices into a bowl and set aside. The heavy seed bed in a regular cucumber makes it more difficult to successfully slice on a mandolin without wasting a lot of product.

 Thoroughly whisk lime juice, mustard oil, sesame oil, sugar and ginger paste in small bowl and pour over cucumbers. Add scotch bonnet peppers. Stir to incorporate. Season with salt and garnish with sesame seeds just before serving.

Scotch Bonnet Salt

Ingredients

20 Whole Fresh Scotch Bonnet Peppers roughly chopped

1/2 Cup coarse Kosher Salt (or Sea Salt)

1 Large Mortar & Pestle (or food processor)

Method:

Put both ingredients in mortar and pestle and pound until it is the texture of a chunky paste.

Work in batches if your mortar and pestle is not big enough to hold everything at once.

Nigel Spence, a Culinary Institute of America alumnus, was born in Kingston, Jamaica. Nigel freelanced at the Television Food Network for 3 years where he worked with culinary luminaries such as Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse. Chef Spence has appeared twice on Throwdown with Bobby Flay where he emerged the victor in cook offs against the Food Network star and was featured on CBS when he appeared on Tony’s Table as well as ABC’s Neighborhood Eats, NBC’s The Today Show , Sirius’ Everyday Living with Martha Stewart and TVFN’s Chopped. The acclaimed and New York Times-reviewed Ripe Kitchen and Bar is Mr Spence’s first entrepreneurial endeavor.

Popular Posts antigua long bay

25 Perfect Caribbean Beaches to Add to Your Summer Bucket List

There’s nothing like a Caribbean beach in summer. The crowds thin out, the winds relax, and the islands start breathing in a different way. The beaches you thought you knew feel new again— stretches of sand once packed with winter […]


Royal Caribbean’s New Cruise Ship Has a Rooftop Bar, a Waterpark and the Largest Pool at Sea

star of the seas

You step into a glass dome floating high above the ocean. To your right, divers plunge from platforms. Above, aerialists twist through light. Somewhere behind you, a DJ is spinning beside a suspended infinity pool. This isn’t a dream — […]


The 15 Best Hotels in Trinidad and Tobago, From Hidden Eco-Retreats to Luxury Towers

trinidad and tobago hotels where to stay

From Port of Spain to Tobago’s quiet coasts, these are the places to check in now No two Caribbean islands are quite like Trinidad and Tobago—and no two hotels here feel the same. This is a destination of contrast: Carnival […]


Related Posts caribbean hiking trail longest

This 115-Mile Hiking Trail Through Dominica Is the Caribbean's Longest (And Most Epic)

The path twists upward through fern forests, crosses rivers lined with boulders the size of small boats, and opens onto vistas that seem carved from a fantasy novel. This isn’t Costa Rica or the Andes — this is Dominica, and […]


The 10 Best Caribbean Hotels You Can Book With Hilton Honors Points

casa colonial

There’s something deeply satisfying about unlocking a luxury Caribbean vacation using nothing but your Hilton Honors points. It’s a bit like knowing a secret — the kind of secret that smells like sea salt and sunscreen, and sounds like waves […]


A New Plan to “Reimagine” Caribbean Tourism

caribbean tourism remagining

The Caribbean has long been a mosaic of sun, sea, and culture — but now it wants to be something more. With a bold new roadmap unveiled in New York last month, the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization is charting a […]