This Cucumber, Mint & Tomato Salad is the kind of salad you bring to the potluck, bbq, tailgate or potluck and return home with an ego full of compliments and an empty bowl. And thanks to the Hot House cucumbers, this dish is an excellent source of vitamins A, K, C, and potassium.  And since we suggest using a particular type of cucumber, let’s take a minute to discuss Hot House cucumbers.

Enjoying a helping of Cucumber, Mint & Tomato Salad tastes like a refreshing evening walk after a warm summer day. You might be thinking that that’s a mouthful of poetic promises for a simple cucumber salad, but it’s true. One taste of this combo of juicy veggies combined with the refreshing kick of fresh mint will have you hooked.

What is a Hot House or English Cucumber?

Hot House cucumbers are rather long and thin compared to regular cucumbers. They have the potential to reach about six to nine or so inches in length. The outer skin of a Hot House cucumber is deep forest green. And instead of being bumpy, they’re fairly smooth with a ripply sort of texture running lengthwise.

Inside the Hot House or English cucumber, it’s a light green to white-ish color which contains many tiny, edible, seeds. Hot House cucumbers have a notably mild and sweet flavor with a fresh and crispy texture. Also, lucky for us, Hot House cucumbers are available year-round and smell divine when sliced.

And Just Look at Those JUICY Tomatoes in this Cucumber Mint & Tomato Salad!

The bottom line is, any tomato will work just fine in this dish. Use any type of tomato you like but do try to keep it organic. Tomatoes have very thin skin and absorb pesticides easily. Also, for optimal flavor results, be sure to respect the ratio of tomato, cucumber, onion, mint, and simple lemon dressing.

Don’t Forget the Refreshing Mint!

One last thing that we should discuss is the value of fresh mint and lemon in this recipe. As you read the recipe, you’ll notice that the ingredients are full-on whole food plant-based with no added oils or refined sugars. We’re sharing that to say this; if at all possible, please do not mess up the delicate natural flavor of this dish by using bottled lemon juice and dried mint. Bottled and dried ingredients rarely deliver the desired results. Some of the amazing health benefits of mint include improved digestion, weight loss, relief from nausea, depression, fatigue, and headache. It is also used in the treatment of asthma, memory loss, and skin care problems.

When making Cucumber, Mint & Tomato Salad, you’re going to want a few other dishes to go with it, and we’ve got just the ones you need!

Next comes the tomatoes. When shopping for the ingredients, we happened upon on locally grown batch of colorful cherry tomatoes. The gradient array of yellows to deep purple reds were just too good to resist so we tried them! And you may like to know that this variety tastes as fabulous as it looks.

You’re going to love this dish alongside some quick and easy to make, oil-free and gluten-free hummus!

And with that hummus, you’re going to want some crispy, oil-free falafel, yes sir!

Oh, and to tie this tasty meal together with a cleansing dose of herbs, you might want to add our Raw Broccoli Green Detox Salad & Avocado Dressing. The creaminess of the avocado, garlic, and lemon combine with the flavors of the raw greens just beautifully. All in all, this tastes fabulous paired with our Cucumber, Mint & Tomato Salad!

We’d love to hear from you when you try this dish. And by all means, stay tuned, sign up for our weekly blog newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, where you can rest assured that we are doing our best to keep you informed on the lastest whole food plant-based, vegan, oil-free, and gluten-free happenings!

Happy Eating!

Cucumber, Mint & Tomato Salad

VEEG

• 15
  Prep:
• 0
  Cook Time:
• Yield: 4 Servings

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Our Cucumber, Mint & Tomato Salad is one of those dishes that comes together in a snap.  Made with the freshest ingredients, it’s what the plant-based nutrition-minded doctor ordered when it comes to eating for wellness, and bonus, it’s delicious! Another detail you’re sure to appreciate is that this salad can easily be made ahead and left to chill until serving time; you have to love that And as we mentioned above, after making your delicious Cucumber, Mint & Tomato Salad, you’re going to want a few other dishes to go with it, and we’ve got just the ones you need! You’re going to love this dish alongside some quick and easy to make, oil-free and gluten-free hummus! Oh, and with that hummus, you’re going to want some crispy, oil-free falafel, yes sir! And to tie it all together with a cleansing dose of herbs, you might want to add our Raw Broccoli Green Detox Salad & Avocado Dressing. The creaminess of the avocado, garlic, and lemon combine with the flavors of the raw greens just beautifully. All in all, this detox dish tastes fabulous paired with this refreshing Cucumber, Mint & Tomato Salad! (Try it and let us know how it goes!)

Ingredients

• 2- large cucumbers, preferably the long Hothouse or English variety, quartered and sliced into bite-size chunks
• 2 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes, that's about a pint, sliced in half
• 4 to 6 tbsp of fresh mint leaves, stacked, rolled and sliced into ribbons or strands
• about 1/4 cup or so of red onion, sliced thinly
• the zest from 2 to 3 lemons - You want to end up with about two tablespoons worth of lovely lemon zest.
• the juice from the same 2 or 3 lemons, or about 1/2 cup, more or less per taste
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of organic unrefined coconut sugar, pure maple syrup, date paste, raw agave, or another sweetener of choice - Any sweetener will do the trick here. Still, we suggest and opt for the most unrefined varieties first.
• 1/4 tsp of sea salt - We like to use pink Himalayan sea salt in our recipes.
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Begin by washing and slicing the cucumbers and placing into a large mixing bowl.  We used long Hothouse cucumbers, but any cucumber will work here. Slice your cucumbers into chunks as we did or slice in whatever shape you prefer.  Cut the tomatoes in half and add them to the cucumbers. Slice the onion thinly and add to the bowl as well.
2. For the mint leaves, rinse the leaves, stack a few on top of each other, roll like a cigar and chop.  When you lightly tumble the chopped pieces with your fingers, little strands or ribbons will appear. Add the chopped mint leaves and lemon zest to the bowl with the cucumber, tomato, and onion. And now it's time to make the simple dressing.
3. Next, in a small bowl, whisk the freshly squeezed lemon juice, coconut sugar or another sweetener, and sea salt together until the salt and sugar dissolve. Taste and adjust to your preference as needed.  If you like, you can skip adding any sweetener, but we like it with just a bit of something sweet to balance out the tartness of the lemon.
4. Add the dressing to the bowl of freshly chopped veggies and toss to coat.  If you like, add black pepper to taste. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for an hour or even a day or so ahead of serving.  We love this with practically everything, but it makes an especially delicious meal when served with our oil-free falafel, hummus, and tofu feta.

Notes

• In the photos, you'll notice we used a rainbow variety of cherry tomatoes, which adds a bright dose of color to this salad.  More important than color, we suggest using whatever organic type of tomatoes you can find.
• If you prefer to use maple sugar over unrefined coconut sugar, you may want to try this brand offered in bulk quantities to save money.

Nutrition

% DV

Calories Per Serving: 32

• Total Fat 0.1 g 0 %
• Saturated Fat 0 g 0 %
• Cholesterol 0 mg 0 %
• Sodium 146.3 mg 6 %
• Carbohydrates 11.4 g 4 %
• Fiber 1.9 g 8 %
• Sugar 2.9 g ---
• Protein 1.8 g 4 %
• Vitamin A 14 %
• Vitamin C 42 %
• Iron 2 %
• Calcium 2 %