This German cucumber salad is a lightly pickled cucumber salad that is so delicious and versatile. As soon as I made my first batch it was gobbled up and I made another doubling the quantity and using up all the cucumbers it was SO good! With the simplest dressing it is a cinch to make and goes with so many savoury dishes! This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader.
The Gurke in Gurkensalat means cucumber and salat means salad. This is a very popular salad in Germany and has a sweet and sour dressing to it from the salt and sugar. In Northern Germany it is usually made with sour cream or yogurt but in Southern Germany it is made without sour cream or yogurt. I loved both so it’s up to you which you prefer!
Why You Should Try This German Cucumber Salad!
1 – You can serve this German cucumber salad many ways. I originally made it to accompany chicken schnitzel but I actually loved it in sandwiches too! My favourite combination was: pita bread, taramasalata and a generous amount of this German cucumber salad. Trust me, this combo slaps!
2 – This isn’t a full pickle, I call it a quick pickle so it’s a bit lighter in the salt, sugar and vinegar.
3 – I used Lebanese cucumbers as you don’t have to peel them as they have a thin skin.
4 – I use sunflower oil as it doesn’t seem to go firm in the fridge like some olive oil does.
5 – This can be made with some sour cream added to it, or not. It’s up to you. Try adding 2 tablespoons of sour cream to the dressing (in step 1).
6 – This German cucumber salad keeps for around 2-3 days. It does get softer as time goes by but the trade off is that you get more flavour into the cucumber slices.
I love this cucumber salad so much that I snack on it. Sometimes when dinner is over and we are watching tv I just want something tasty to snack on. A salad might be too much but a little bowl of this eaten in front of the tv is perfect for me. I eat it by the slice, it has crunch and so much flavour and it’s a really tasty tv snack. Honestly I didn’t ever see pickles as a tv snack on my bingo card this year but here we are.
Mr NQN and I have finally caught up to the rest of the world and got into the tv show Ozark. It took us a couple of tries because it was really dark. Like literally the first two seasons are hard to watch as the lighting is so dark. Even when we got into it I found it hard to know what was going on on the television. Mr NQN who has perfect vision especially compared to mine, would have to tell me what was happening. For example he’d have to tell me, “It’s Marty and Ruth in the bar…”. He was like my seeing eye human for the first two seasons. Thankfully for the last two as things got brighter, I could concentrate on eating my pickles without being told what was happening!
So tell me Dear Reader, what are your favourite tv snacks? Do you snack on pickles? Have you ever tried German cucumber salad?
German Cucumber Salad
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 0 minutes
- 4 Lebanese cucumbers (around 300g/10ozs total)
- 4 tablespoons/60ml/2flozs white vinegar
- 4 tablespoons/60ml/2flozs sunflower oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons finely chopped dill
- 3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Step 1 – Mix the white vinegar, oil, salt, sugar, dill and garlic together in a small bowl.
Step 2 – Slice the cucumber thinly into a larger bowl – I use the thinnest setting on the mandolin. Stir in the dressing and toss to cover all of the cucumber. Ideally , allow to sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.
This German cucumber salad is best eaten with 2-3 days and keeps in the fridge.
Published on 2024-04-06 by Lorraine Elliott.
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