Thai Style Confetti Crunch Cucumber Salad

Makes 3-4 cups

From Clara Silverstein’s A White House Garden Cookbook: Healthy Ideas from the First Family for Your Family. (Recipe contributed by Rebecca Wheeler)

This is a great dish for introducing kids to fresh salads. “The dressing is sweet, the colors are bright, and the peanuts add a familiar favorite flavor,” said Rebecca Wheeler, chef, cooking instructor and leader of ethnic market tours in Chicago. Her own children, Julia, 5, and Mack, 3, are not yet interested in many raw vegetables or salads, but “they are happy to help me stir anything I am making,” she said.

Students at Hatch Elementary School in Oak Park, Illinois were more receptive to her demonstration, she recalled. “The kids really enjoyed using the back of a spoon to scrape out the cucumber seeds. They seemed surprised by how much they liked the salad, and they gobbled it all up.” Adventurous eaters can accent the cucumbers with a chopped Serrano or jalapeño chili pepper.

Fun Fact: President Ulysses S. Grant had a different idea about when to eat cucumbers. He liked a cucumber soaked in vinegar for breakfast!

Ingredients

1 cup distilled white vinegar

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 large cucumber

1 small red pepper

1 carrot

½ cup cherry tomato halves

½ cup finely chopped roasted unsalted peanuts

½ cup loosely packed chopped cilantro leaves and stems

Directions

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the vinegar, sugar, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. Cook for 1 minute at a gentle boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

2. When ready to serve, peel the cucumber and cut in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Cut crosswise into slices. Dice the red pepper and remove the seeds. Grate or finely slice the carrot. Place the cucumber, red pepper, carrot, cherry tomatoes, peanuts and cilantro in a mixing bowl. Pour the cooled vinegar dressing over the salad ingredients and mix gently. Serve cold or at room temperature.

–– Rebecca Wheeler, Chicago, IL

Food writer Clara Silverstein contributes to the Boston Globe, is the author of The Boston Chef’s Table and coauthor of the bestselling and award-winning New England Soup Factory Cookbook. You can learn more about A White House Garden Cookbook at www.redrockpress.com/delicious.html