Çoban Salad Recipe: Turkish Shepherd's Salad in 15 Mins

Name: Çoban Salad Recipe: Turkish Shepherd's Salad in 15 Mins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 15 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Young cucumbers 0.5 kg; Ripe tomatoes 0.5 kg; Hot green pepper 1; Onion 1; Parsley 0.5 bunch; Olive oil, lemon juice, salt for the dressing

Çoban salad (Çoban salatası), typical of Turkish and Azerbaijani cuisine, is one of a family of similar dishes known as “shepherd's salad”. What sets it apart from the others is, first of all, the finer cut of the ingredients and the hot pepper. It's dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. Very often the salad is served as part of a meze.

The main ingredients are cucumbers and tomatoes. As a rule, they are peeled and seeded if the seeds stand out. There is also green pepper, sweet or hot. I'll say right away that hot is tastier, it has a special flavour. On top of that, plenty of parsley and finely chopped onion go in.
The salad is served at room temperature and dressed right before serving.

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Ingredients

4 servings

Young cucumbers 0.5 kg
Ripe tomatoes 0.5 kg
Hot green pepper 1
Onion 1
Parsley 0.5 bunch
Olive oil, lemon juice, salt for the dressing

Step-by-step recipe

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First of all, for a really tasty çoban salad you need the freshest vegetables. They shouldn't be limp or overripe. It's ideal if you have a vegetable garden. Wash all the vegetables thoroughly and prepare them. If they were kept in the fridge, wait until they warm up to room temperature.
Peel the cucumbers. If they are a bit overripe, scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Cut the cucumbers into small cubes and put them in a salad bowl. Peel the tomatoes with a sharp knife, or scald them briefly with boiling water. It's best to remove the seeds, but if there are only a few, you can leave them. Cut the tomato flesh slightly larger than the cucumbers.
Remove the seeds from the green pepper; both hot and sweet varieties work. Cut the pepper not too large and add it to the salad bowl. Peel and finely chop the onion, put it in a small bowl and salt it well. Mix the onion with the salt thoroughly. In the East they even rub it between their palms so it releases a little juice, and that's what makes çoban salad so tasty. Mix the vegetables in the salad bowl.
Pull the leaves off the parsley sprigs, chop them with a knife and add to the salad. The dressing is extremely simple: mix 2–3 tbsp of the best olive oil with the juice of a quarter of a lemon and whisk well. Combine all the ingredients, then pour over the dressing and toss.
Divide the salad into small bowls and serve right away. There's no need to chill it or let it “infuse”. Add some fresh soft bread and it will be delicious. Since everything is quick and easy, there's no point in cutting the vegetables ahead of time.