Radish and Cucumber salad with seasoned Yogurt

Cucumber is really a cool vegetable. It is very refreshing in summer. It is delicious either raw or cooked. We use Cucumber a lot in our traditional cuisine and most of the time it is in combination with yogurt or tamarind. 

 
Today I went to the fresh produce market and got some good organic Cucumber. They even had the flowers still attached to the fruit.

I am going with a vegetable theme this week , as an attempt to detoxify without starving myself to death. Cucumbers are an excellent choice for detox, or that is what people say. Whether it helps detox or not, I love Cucumber ( Well, everyone knows that. That is why we chose to name our spa, Cucumber :)  )

It was really hot and humid today and so I decided to make a Yogurt mint dressing to go with it. Though garlic is considered heat inducing, I added a bit of garlic too, because along with Cucumbers I got fresh garlic too.

What I did was pretty simple, but nevertheless gave me a dish I was so pleased with.

I washed the Cucumbers and peeled them into strips with a peeler. I also cut the unpeeled radish to thin slices. Then I sprinkled some salt into it and left it aside while I was preparing the Yogurt sauce.

For the Yogurt sauce, I chopped a small garlic clove and added that to a cup of Yogurt. I didn't want the garlic to overpower the flavor, and that is why I chose the smallest clove. I added a teaspoon of chopped mint leaves, a bit of lemon juice and salt. Then I thought , maybe I need to spice it up a bit. So I heated a teaspoon of oil and when the oil was smoking hot, I dropped in some mustard seeds, chopped red chillies and a pinch of Fenugreek seeds. I added the seasoning straight to the Yogurt stirring constantly till evenly mixed. I was scared that the hot oil will curdle the Yogurt, but since I stirred it as soon as added the oil, it was still creamy.

Then I took the Cucumber and radish and crushed it slightly to remove the salty water. Pile them on a plate and serve with the Yogurt sauce.