We make this salad all the time in the summer months as it goes well with everything - it’s great at a BBQ, with spicy curries or in sandwiches or wraps. The cooling freshness and acidity cuts through anything rich or spicy. It’s also a great vehicle for all sorts of vegetables so see this as a sort of blueprint and add anything that is good raw. Cut the vegetables thinly as more surface area helps them pickle. We like to add kohlrabi (peel it well and cut into match sticks), carrots, daikon radishes (also known as mooli), baby beets, turnip/swede or celeriac (both peeled well and cut into matchsticks)and even thinly sliced cabbage. You can all sorts of different flowers too - calendula petals are particularly lovely stirred through.

Serves 4

2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons white rice vinegar (or use white wine vinegar)
3 tablespoons just boiled water
¼ teaspoon salt
6 radishes
1 medium cucumber
1 large banana shallot (or a couple if they are small)
1-2 red chillies (or to taste)
A handful of mint leaves
20 borage flowers, defuzzed (optional)

1. Put the sugar, vinegar and salt in a small jug or bowl. Boil the kettle and add three tablespoons boiling water. Stir to dissolve the sugar and salt.

2. Slice the radishes into thin rounds. Slice the cucumber in half lengthways and then using a teaspoon scoop out the seeds in the middle so you are left with a crescent moon shape. Discard the seeds. Then cut the cucumber into thin slices (about ½ cm thick), slice on an angle for the best look. Peel the shallots and cut in half lengthways and then slice into half-moons. Deseed the chilli and chop finely. Put the radishes, cucumber shallots and chilli in a bowl and pour over the dressing.

4. Chiffonade the mint, this means bunch some of the leaves together, roll them up into a tight little roll and then slice very finely into long strips. Stir through the salad. Leave for about 30 minutes before eating but this will keep well in the fridge for a few days. Just before serving defuzz the borage flowers (hold the black anthers in the middle of the flower and gently pull the fuzzy bit off the back) and sprinkle them over the top.