Cucumber and Yoghurt

Cucumber salad is a light, refreshing side dish that pairs beautifully with a variety of meals, especially when you’re looking to balance flavours or add a cooling element to complement your other meals.

Here are some great dishes to serve with cucumber salad and why they work so well together:

Grilled meats, especially those seasoned with bold spices like garlic, cumin, or paprika, pair wonderfully with cucumber salad. The freshness of the cucumber and the tanginess of the yoghurt (if you’re using a yoghurt-based salad like the one above) help balance the richness of the meat. Plus, cucumber salad has a cooling effect on the palate, which can be really soothing if the meat is spicy or heavily seasoned.

Falafel is crispy, savoury, and usually spiced with coriander, cumin, and garlic, which can sometimes leave your palate craving something light and fresh. Enter cucumber salad! It offers a great contrast to the dense, crunchy falafel, adding a refreshing element to your plate. The creamy texture of the yoghurt-based cucumber salad complements the falafel perfectly, especially if you drizzle a little extra lemon juice on top.

Whether you’re having a fiery Indian curry or a spicy Thai dish, cucumber salad is a great way to cool things down. In Indian cuisine, for example, cucumber raita is often served alongside curries to help mellow out the heat, so our recipe above is a nice variation for something new. The creamy yoghurt and cooling cucumber help balance out the spice, giving your taste buds a break between bites of curry. It’s like the perfect little palate cleanser.

Fish, especially when baked or grilled, is light and healthy but can have a rich, buttery mouthfeel. Cucumber salad is a fantastic side dish to cut through the richness of fish like salmon or trout. The crisp texture and mild flavour of the cucumber add brightness, while the yoghurt adds a slight tang that lifts the essence of the fish.

A side of cucumber salad is perfect with grains like rice pilaf or quinoa. These grains can sometimes feel a bit heavy on their own, so pairing them with something light and crunchy like cucumber salad adds a great contrast. The salad’s tanginess also gives some much-needed brightness to the earthiness of the grains, creating a more balanced meal.

Whether you’re serving beef, lamb, or vegetable skewers, cucumber salad is a fantastic accompaniment. Skewers are often grilled and served hot, and the crisp, cold cucumber salad acts as a refreshing sidekick. If you’re eating kebabs with a rich, garlicky sauce, the salad also provides a nice break in flavours and textures.