Kachumber Salad - Tomato, Cucumber, Red Onion Salad is a quick salad recipe that is served alongside many Indian dishes such as Biryani. It is a fresh, cooling, crunchy salad consisting of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, lemon juice, cumin and sometime chilli too. What's more? It can be easily adapted!
Kachumber Salad - Tomato, Cucumber, Red Onion Salad
Today's recipe is a simple one for a refreshing, crunchy and cooling side salad that we make in our home every single day.
What is Kachumber?
Kachumber is a quick salad dish that is part of Indian cuisine served alongside main dishes such as Lamb Karahi or Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani.
It has become more popular recently after Dishoom shared their recipe via their book and online.
It consists of fresh chopped salad ingredients such as cucumber, tomatoes and onions.
It sometimes includes chilli and well as other ground spices and lemon juice.
It is served alongside most Indian meals and can also be added to wraps, tacos or eaten alongside most main meals.
Kachumber Salad is also delicious served with papadums and dips and is often served that way in restaurants.
My version is made up of diced cucumber, tomato, red onions, green chilli and has a dressing of salt, pepper, lemon, mint, coriander, cumin.
That being said, this is a recipe that you can chop and change as you like.
It can be made with Yoghurt too. Here is an Onion Raita I make often.
Kachumber is similar to some well known Mediterranean and Middle Eastern such as Shirazi Salad.
What is the meaning of kachumber?
Kachumber means a salad in Indian cookery made up of chopped onion, tomatoes, cucumbers and sometimes other vegetables. Typically it is seasoned with chilli and coriander and is served as a side to a a main meal such as Biryani.
Ingredients in Kachumber
Here are the few simple ingredients that you need and substitutions:
Tomatoes - Ripe Tomatoes that are a little firm but yielding slightly to the touch and fragrant. You can use baby plum tomatoes or cherry tomatoes instead.
Cucumbers- choose firm, smooth-skinned cucumbers. You can also use mini Persian Cucumbers.
Red onions- choose firm and smooth looking onions. Tip: if you find that they are too acrid for you, soak/run under water for a bit. You can also use Spring Onions.
Salt - I use Himalayan Pink Salt but any fine Salt will do.
Pinch of Caster Sugar - This is optional and only if needed.
Cumin - Ground Cumin adds a warmth. You can use roasted Cumin Seeds instead or leave it out.
Lemon Juice - You can also use Lime.
Mint - A few chopped leaves add a freshness. You can use dry mint instead.
Coriander - 1 tbsp of chopped leaves adds a citrus flavour. You can skip this if you prefer.
Green Chilli - This is an optional add in. You can add 1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder instead.
How to make Kachumber Salad - Tomato, Cucumber, Red Onion Salad
This is a super easy recipe that is quick to make. Here is what you need to do:
The base ingredients of tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions are diced/sliced finely and added to a bowl.
For seasoning, a dash of salt is added.
Mint, Coriander and Green Chilli are sliced finely and added to the bowl.
To dress the salad, toss gently with lemon juice and cumin.
TOP TIPS for Kachumber Salad
Serve fresh
This salad is best served fresh but does keep well in the fridge in a covered bowl/airtight container for 2 days.
Tomato Liquid
You can remove some of the liquid from the tomatoes and onions by putting into a colander with a sprinkling of salt and setting aside for 10 minutes.
Onion Taste
You can wash the onions in a colander for 30 seconds to remove some of the acrid taste if it is too strong for you.
Slice finely
Slice ingredients finely to get the best flavour.
FAQS for Kachumber
How do you keep cucumber salad/kachumber from getting soggy?
How to pronounce Kachumber Salad?
There are 2 ways to say Kachumber.
It can be pronounced Kach-u-mar. Without the B.
Or Kach-um-bar.
Can you make Kachumber without Tomatoes or Onions?
Kachumber is very adaptable. I have added some suggestions below. For it to be a true Kachumber though, it does need at least one or the other - Tomatoes or Cucumber.
What goes in a Kachumber Salad?
Lemon and Salt.
You can also add Cumin, Chilli and a pinch of Caster Sugar.
How long does Kachumber last in the fridge?
Kachumber - Cucumber, Tomato and Onion Salad lasts 3 days in the fridge in a covered container.
It is best eaten fresh though.
You can prep it ahead of time by chopping the vegetables in advance and adding the remaining ingredients just before serving.
Recipe Adaptions
There are so many variations of Kachumber Salad:
You can add the following ingredients to Raita:
Grated Carrots
Mango
Sliced Radish
Pomegranate
Cubed and Peeled Apple
Mixed Toasted Seeds
Chopped Nuts
Chickpeas
Sliced Cabbage
Cubed Avocado
Sweetcorn Kernels
Diced Green/Red/Yellow Peppers
To the Kachumber Dressing, you can add:
Vinegar or Lime Juice in place of Lemon Juice
Plain Yogurt
Chaat Masala
Toasted Cumin Seeds
How to serve Kachumber Salad
This gorgeously vibrant salad works as a side dish to compliment just about any Indian recipe. Try alongside:
**if you make and enjoy this recipe, please leave a comment and star rating. Please tag us on instagram. We love to see your creations and your feedback helps us to shape future content! we love to hear from you. Thankyou! x
Kachumber Salad - Tomato, Cucumber, Red Onion Salad
Kachumber Salad - Tomato, Cucumber, Red Onion Salad is a recipe that is served alongside many Indian dishes. It is a fresh, cooling salad consisting of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, lemon juice, cumin and sometime chilli too. It can be adapted easily to increase/decrease flavours.
Ingredients
- ½ large Cucumber Diced
- 150 g Cherry, Plum or Normal Tomatoes Diced
- ½ Red Onion Sliced Finely
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Mint Leaves Sliced Finely
- 1 tbsp Coriander Leaves Sliced Finely
- 1 Green Chilli Sliced Finely, Optional
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- ¼ tsp Cumin Powder
- Pinch Sugar Optional
Instructions
-
Combine tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions in a bowl.
-
Season with Salt.
-
Add Mint, Coriander and Green Chilli.
-
Toss gently with lemon juice and cumin.
Recipe Notes
TOP TIPS for Kachumber Salad
Serve fresh
This salad is best served fresh but does keep well in the fridge in a covered bowl/airtight container for 2 days.
Tomato Liquid
You can remove some of the liquid from the tomatoes and onions by putting into a colander with a sprinkling of salt and setting aside for 10 minutes.
Onion Taste
You can wash the onions in a colander for 30 seconds to remove some of the acrid taste if it is too strong for you.
Slice finely
Slice ingredients finely to get the best flavour.
FAQS for Kachumber
What does kachumber mean?
Kachumber means a salad in Indian cookery made up of chopped onion, tomatoes, cucumbers and sometimes other vegetables. Typically it is seasoned with chilli and coriander and is served as a side to a a main meal such as Biryani.
How to pronounce Kachumber Salad?
There are 2 ways to say Kachumber.
It can be pronounced Kach-u-mar. Without the B.
Or Kach-um-bar.
Can you make Kachumber without Tomatoes or Onions?
Kachumber is very adaptable. I have added some suggestions below. For it to be a true Kachumber though, it does need at least one or the other - Tomatoes or Cucumber.
What goes in a Kachumber Salad?
Lemon and Salt.
You can also add Cumin, Chilli and a pinch of Caster Sugar.
Recipe Adaptions
There are so many variations of Kachumber Salad:
You can add the following ingredients to Raita:
Grated Carrots
Mango
Sliced Radish
Pomegranate
Cubed and Peeled Apple
Mixed Toasted Seeds
Chopped Nuts
Chickpeas
Sliced Cabbage
Cubed Avocado
Sweetcorn Kernels
Diced Green/Red/Yellow Peppers
To the Kachumber Dressing, you can add:
Vinegar or Lime Juice in place of Lemon Juice
Plain Yogurt
Chaat Masala
Toasted Cumin Seeds
Leave a Reply