Cucumber-Radish Kachumber

One of the wonderful things about food is the additional glossary that accompanies it. Words like kachumber and lambrusco - both on the menu tonight - roll off the tongue in playful iambic trimeter.

"What's for dinner tonight?"
"Kachumba....and maybe a curry."
(I really just wanted an excuse for more salad)

Kachumber (recipe follows) is a cooling, nutty salad that accompanies a curry. C. took care of making the curry, while I toasted spices, and chopped some of the season's first radishes, and tossed those items together in a bowl. It's a simple dish and wonderful now that the weather is warming up. When it gets too hot for curry, you can add some poached fish and a few lettuce leaves, and you have a Springtime meal. Or a lentil salad and some crusty bread with kachumber.

Lambrusco, an sassy, effervescent Italian red wine, is a simple aperitif, that allows you to prep away without being distracted by its complexity (sorry, lambrusco fans, I'm only buying the cheap stuff for now).

Cucumber-Radish Kachumber
(makes enough or 2 as an accompaniment)

2 Lebanese cucumbers, peeled, halved, seeded, sliced widthwise
1 bunch small red radishes, trimmed, quartered
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon brown mustard seeds
½ teaspoon nigella seeds (optional)
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
2 tablespoons lime juice75g raw cashews, roasted
¼ cup cilantro leaves
Salt, to taste

Combine cucumbers and radishes in a bowl. Heat vegetable oil in a small frying pan over medium heat, add mustard, nigella and cumin seeds, and cook for 1 minute or until seeds begin to pop.

Cool, then pour seed mixture over cucumber and radishes. Add remaining ingredients and salt to taste, then toss to combine.