Kerabu Timun is a salad like you’ve never had before – fresh zingy and spicy!
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
What is Kerabu Timun?
Let’s break it down.
- kerabu = salad in Malay
- timun = cucumber
- kerabu timun = cucumber salad
It’s a simple, refreshing Malaysian cucumber salad that can be as mild or as spicy as you want it to be. The body of the salad is made up with, you guessed it, cucumbers, with a small amount of shallots for a little bit of zing.
While I have, on the odd occasion, found this being served at Malay stalls in Singapore, it’s definitely more popular and commonplace in Malaysia. So I’ve always considered this a Malaysian salad. Feel free to correct me on this, fellow Singaporeans.
Kerabu Timun Recipe
Kerabu timun is a very easy salad to make, and has 2 parts to it:
- the salad ingredients
- sambal belacan for the heat and more flavour
I almost always have some sambal belacan in the fridge, because any Singaporean and Malaysian will tell you – sambal belacan is life
It is such an easy red chilli paste condiment to knock up, that making it from scratch, then assembling our kerabu timun will not take you more than 15 minutes. 20 max.
Salad Ingredients
- cucumbers
- shallots (or red onion)
- dried shrimp
- optional red chillies
- lime juice
- salt
- optional sugar
- lime juice
Sambal Belacan Ingredients
- fresh red chillies
- belacan (shrimp paste)
- lime juice
- salt
- sugar
Let’s take a look at some of the specialist ingredients, depending on where in the world you are:
Dried Shrimp
These are tiny shrimps that have been sundried, resulting in a very concentrated aroma and flavour. They have a strong smell of the sea and are an indispensable East and South East Asian ingredient.
Called udang kering in Malay, they play a huge part in our Kerabu Timun, adding an umami hit with every mouthful. Many people like to leave the dried shrimp fairly coarse when pounding. But I prefer a more floss-like (but not quite) state. This way, the dried shrimp flavour is able to spread through the whole salad.
Outside of of East and South East Asia, you will find them in “ethnic” stores that sell food from that region, whether that’s Chinese, Thai or Indonesian products. Both my local Chinese and Korean stock them in the freezer section.
Failing that, online is the way to go. You can get them on Amazon here (affiliate link).
Shrimp Paste
Known as belacan in Malay, terasi in Indonesia and Kapi in Thai, shrimp paste is a must in your kitchen if you are serious about cooking South East Asian.
Remember that a part of the recipe includes sambal belacan? This is the ubiquitous Malay red chilli paste condiment found in Singapore and Malaysia. It plays a huge part in our Malaysian cucumber salad, imparting additional flavour and more importantly, heat.
Here in the UK, most of our large supermarkets stock shrimp paste, this one in particular (affiliate link).
Malaysian Cucumber Salad at Home
Assuming we already have the sambal belacan all made, this is what we’ll be doing:
- soak the dried shrimp in very hot water, while we get everything else ready.
- peel and slice the cucumber.
- peel and slice the shallots
- drain, then pulse the dried shrimp in a chopper to an almost floss-like state (or pound with a pestle and mortar, if you want, which is the traditional way).
- Toss everything together in a large bowl, along with some sambal belacan, salt and lime juice.
How Hot is Kerabu Timun?
How hot you make your kerabu timun is completely up to you. It doesn’t have to be hot. After all, the name doesn’t say kerabu timun pedas (spicy), does it?
The heat level in this Malaysian cucumber salad will depend primarily on how hot your sambal belacan is and how much of it you use. If you make the sambal with spicy chillies, like the traditional birds eye, then it’s going to be spicy. I always use a combination of mild and spicy for a sambal that’s enjoyably hot and that’s not going to make me cry.
I add about 2 tablespoons of sambal belacan when tossing the kerabu timun, and leave a little more on the table for the heat lovers.
How to Serve Kerabu Timun?
That’s easy. It will be at home as part of any South East Asian meal. In fact, I’ve had it with just some white rice as a quick, easy and healthy lunch. I know, I know, brown rice is better, but I can’t stand the stuff!
Here are some examples of dishes you can serve with our Malaysian salad, you’ll find more on the Recipes Page:
And that’s all there is to it. Your kerabu timun is best made fresh. But if you have any left over, it can be kept in the fridge, covered, overnight.
Shall we get cooking?
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Lin xx
Kerabu Timun (Malaysian Cucumber Salad)
Equipment
- small bowl
- knife
- chopping board
- chopper (or pestle and mortar)
- colander
- large bowl
- salad spoon and fork
Ingredients
- 1 heaped Tbsp dried shrimp about 10 g/⅓ oz
- 1 large cucumber about 500 g/1.1 lb
- 2 shallots or 1 small red onion about 50 g/ 1.8 oz pre peeled weight
- 2 birds eye chillies for added heat totally optional
- pinch salt
- pinch white sugar optional
- 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice whatever lime you have
- 2 Tbsp sambal belacan (click for recipe) and more to serve
Instructions
Soak the dried shrimp
- Soak the dried shrimp in freshly boiled water while you get the other ingredients going.
Other Prep Work
- Peel the cucumber, halve then halve again, lengthwise. See image.
- Slice the cucumber quarters on the diagonal and place in a colander. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of salt and leave while you move on to the next steps.This salting is to draw out any bitterness in the cucumber, depending on the variety you're using. The older your cucumber, the more pronounced that bitterness can be.The added advantage of salting the cucumbers is that they take on a bot of the saltiness and also soften slightly.
- Peel, halve and slice the shallots thinly. Separate the layers as much as you can, but no need to be too fastidious about this.
- If you are adding fresh chillies, chop them up finely. I left them whole, as you can see in the images.
Drain and Chop/Pound the Shrimp
- Drain the dried shrimp and place in a mortar or imagine you're in the 21st century and tip into a chopper.
- Pound the dried shrimp to a semi fine state or until you get tired! If using a chopper, pulse the shrimp a few times until you get a floss like mix, with the odd lump of shrimp.
Toss the Salad
- Rinse the cucumber slices well under running water and give them a good shake to remove excess water. Tip into a large bowl.
- Follow the cucumber with the shallots, chillies, dried shrimp, salt and sugar.
- Add 2 Tbsp of sambal belacan, or more, if you like.
- And finally, drizzle the lime juice all over.
- Toss your salad and taste a cucumber. Add more salt if you want. Serve immediately.
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