Thai style cucumber and radish noodles

I read a wonderful sentence today (from Desmond and Dempsey) …

‘a herb is a doing leaf.’

It’s so true.

Whilst many leaves provide freshness, crunch or are a vehicle for dressings and other ingredients to be showcased, herbs are leaves with purpose.

Here in this recipe, this heavenly combination of herbs – basil, mint and coriander - is revitalising and invigorating. Whilst it doesn’t look like much on paper in its simplicity, it’s a reminder of all the reasons that the right combination of herbs can be perfect.

THAI STYLE CUCUMBER AND RADISH SALAD

INGREDIENTS

Serves 1

2 teaspoons lime juice

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

½ red or green fresh chilli, finely chopped

1 cucumber

5 radishes

a handful of mixed basil, mint and coriander leaves

25g salted peanuts or almonds

METHOD

Combine the lime juice and rice vinegar and add the chilli. Add to a large bowl.
Peel the cucumber and using a julienne peeler or regular peeler make long spaghetti strands and set aside. Finely slice or spiralise the radishes and finely chop the herbs. In a mortar and pestle crush the peanuts or almonds until they are almost at the cusp of turning into butter. If you don’t have a pestle and mortar, you can put the nuts in a clean tea towel and bash them with a rolling pin to crush them. Toss all the ingredients together with the lime juice, vinegar and chilli.

If you’re interested in learning how to make delicious raw food for everyday, whether you are new to raw food or not, if you want good things to eat - especially for main meals - easily and with an interesting twist, then you absolutely cannot afford to miss this collection of raw food summer recipes - to give your summer an extra ta-da! You can check it out here.