This Portuguese Salad is terrific as an accompaniment to grilled fish, chicken or pork. When serving it with fish, there is no need to prepare a sauce for the fish- just serve the salad on the same plate as the fish and spoon a little of the dressing right over the fish. It is essential to cut the cucumbers thick and then salt them and drain them on a rack or in a colander. It’s an easy extra step that makes the cucumbers very crisp. Without the cucumbers, the salad will keep well for up to 3 days. Add the cucumbers the day you will be serving the salad.
The dressing for this salad calls for chile garlic paste. If you can’t locate chile garlic paste (usually in the Asian food section of your market), you can substitute 1 teaspoon chopped garlic + 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper.
If you’re looking for more salad recipes, you might enjoy my Mediterranean Chickpea Salad or this Corn Tomato Avocado Salad. Simple Greek Salad, Asian Cucumber Salad, and this Five Minute Salad are excellent salad recipes as well.
