Cucumber, mint and lime cooler

Plan a week with British dishes

Let's cook

1. Cut 8 thin rounds from the cucumber and keep them for the glasses. Roughly chop the rest, skin and all.
2. Squeeze the juice from 2 of the limes. Cut the third lime into thin slices for serving.
3. Put the chopped cucumber, the mint leaves (not the serving sprigs), the lime juice and the sugar in a blender with 400ml cold water. Blend for 1 minute, until completely smooth and pale green.
4. Pour through a fine sieve into a large jug, pressing the pulp with the back of a spoon to get all the juice out. Throw the pulp away.
5. Stir in another 400ml cold water. Taste and add a little more sugar if you like it sweeter, stirring until it dissolves.
6. Fill 4 tall glasses with ice, slip 2 cucumber rounds and a lime slice down the side of each, pour over the cooler and top with a mint sprig.

Tips

• Chill the jug for an hour before serving if you have time. It tastes fresher very cold.
• It is best drunk the day it is made. It keeps in the fridge for a day but loses some of its bright colour.

Swaps

• Sparkling: blend with 400ml water as in step 3, then top each glass with sparkling water instead of adding the rest.
• Less sugar: sweeten with a splash of apple juice, or leave the sugar out for a sharp, clean drink.

More in the British meal plan

Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.