What to use instead of cucumber
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Cold watery crunch in a salad, roll or cold soup
It is around 96 percent water held in a crisp cell structure, so it contributes bulk, coolness and snap while tasting of almost nothing, which is why it sits happily beside strong flavours.
Celery, sliced thin on the biasRan out
1:1 by volume
Crunchier and far more assertive, with strings worth peeling off. Works in a gyro, wrong in a California roll.
Jicama, cut into batonsRan out
1:1 by volume
Crisper and sweeter, and it stays crisp for hours because it releases so much less water. None of the cooling quality.
DaikonRan out
1:1 by volume
Peppery and slightly sulphurous. Excellent in a Vietnamese-leaning salad, out of place in tzatziki.
Raw zucchini, seeded and sliced thinRan out
1:1 by volume
Softer and blander with a waxy skin, and it goes limp about twenty minutes after it meets salt.
Kohlrabi, peeled and juliennedRan out
1:1 by volume
Firm and sweet with a broccoli edge. It holds up in a dressed slaw considerably better than cucumber does.
What doesn't work: Pickled cucumbers or gherkins in a fresh salad. They arrive pre-salted and soaked in vinegar, so a horiatiki dressed with them tastes sour, the tomatoes leach water trying to balance the salt, and the salad turns into a relish.
Grated flesh squeezed dry into a yogurt sauce (tzatziki, raita)
Grating breaks the cells so you can wring out most of the water, leaving cucumber solids that thicken the yogurt instead of thinning it while still giving the sauce its cooling crunch.
Grated zucchini, salted and squeezedRan out
1:1 by weight after squeezing
Milder and faintly grassy, and it squeezes drier because there was less water to start with. Peel it or the sauce speckles green.
Grated daikon, salted and squeezedRan out
1:1 by weight
Peppery in a horseradish-lite way, which cuts richer grilled meat better than cucumber does.
Grated green appleRan out
use 2/3 as much
Sweet and acidic, so the raita goes fruity. It looks identical in the bowl and it works alongside a hot curry.
What doesn't work: Pickle relish in place of grated cucumber in tzatziki. It looks like the right thing going in and it brings vinegar, sugar and dill with it, so the sauce turns sweet-sour and then thins as the brine bleeds out of it on the table.