Kakdi koshimbir | Indian cucumber salad

Kakdi koshimbir is a delicious salad made from cucumber, coconut and peanuts. These kind of dishes just show how diverse Indian cuisine is - it’s not just about your typical curries and naan. Koshimbir is the name in Marathi for a salad from finely chopped veggies, such as cucumber, carrot or beetroot. It is usually tempered with a tadka of ghee, cumin seeds, chillies and asafoetida. So good and ready within 15 minutes. I like to use ghee for the tadka as it gives so much more flavour - but you can use coconut or vegetable oil if you prefer. Serve this salad along with dal, rice and as a side dish to many other delicious Indian recipes. 

Ingredients 
Serves 2 
1 large cucumber peeled (you can leave the skin on if it is thin & not too bitter) 
50g roasted peanuts roughly chopped
50g desiccated coconut soaked in a ~2 tbsp of warm water. You can use fresh grated coconut
Juice of half a lemon
Handful freshly chopped coriander 
1/2 tbsp ghee
1 green chilli finely chopped 
1 tsp cumin seeds 
1 dried kashmiri red chilli broken into pieces
1/4 tsp asafoetida
Salt to taste

Method 

• Cut the peeled cucumber into bite size pieces and add into a bowl. Add the crushed peanuts, soaked coconut and mix well. 
  
  
• Squeeze over the juice of the lemon and add salt to taste. 
  
  
• Next, take a small pan and heat up the ghee for the tadka. Add the cumin seeds and saute until they become fragrant. 
  
  
• Add the dried Kashmiri chilli and chopped green chilli. Also add the asafoetida. Saute for 15 more seconds until the chillies have softened. 
  
  
• Pout the hot tadka straight over the cucumber salad. 
  
  
• Mix well and sprinkle over chopped coriander to serve.