Shirazi Salad
Ingredients
4 servings
- Ripe tomatoes 3-5
- Young cucumbers 3-5
- Red onion 1
- Fresh mint 4-5 sprigs
- Dried mint (if you have no fresh) 0.5 tsp
- Parsley, dill, cilantro (optional) to taste
- Lime or lemon 1
- Olive oil 2 tbsp
- Ground sumac (optional) to taste
- Hot or sweet bell pepper (optional) 1
- Salt to taste
Step-by-step recipe
Vegetables and herbs
Shirazi vegetable salad is best made from the freshest young cucumbers and ripe tomatoes. It’s ideal if you have fresh mint, which makes the dish incomparable. You can also use dried mint. Use a not-too-sharp red onion so its taste doesn’t stand out too much. It’s very good when the salad has a light kick, so add a hot or mildly spicy pepper.
How finely to cut the vegetables is, by and large, a matter of taste. Usually they are cut quite small, as for Olivier salad. I prefer a coarser cut.
Peel and cut the cucumbers. Young cucumbers, preferably seedless, should be peeled, making sure they aren’t bitter. Put the cut cucumbers in a salad bowl.
Cut the tomatoes and pepper. If the tomatoes are too juicy or overripe, it’s worth removing the seeds. Cut the tomatoes the same way as the cucumbers, then add them to the bowl. You can use not only hot but also sweet bell pepper, as you like. Cut the peeled pepper into thin strips and add it to the bowl too.
Cut the onion and mint. Peel the sweet red onion, cut it into strips or cubes and add it to the bowl. Pick the leaves off the mint sprigs; with fresh mint Shirazi salad is at its best. Chop the herbs quite finely with a knife and add them to the vegetables. If you have no fresh mint, add 0.5 tsp of dried mint, which you can briefly soak in boiling water to boost its aroma and flavor. Besides mint, fresh herbs you like are often added: parsley, dill, cilantro, all optional.
Salt the vegetables and toss. By the time the dressing is ready, the salt will have dissolved.
Dressing
Original recipes usually use the sour juice of unripe grapes, verjus. It’s rather hard to find here. So lime or lemon juice, and even grape vinegar, make a great substitute. It’s best to dress the salad right before serving, which keeps the vegetables firm and crisp.
Make the dressing and pour it over the vegetables. Mix the olive oil and lime juice in a cup. You can add ground sumac berries to the dressing, a common sour addition to sauces. Whisk the dressing and pour it over the vegetables.
Adjust the taste of the salad. You can make it saltier and more sour, and by the way, the sour taste is very pleasant. To boost the flavor, put the dressed salad in the refrigerator for half an hour.
Serving
Serve the salad as a standalone appetizer with bread, pita and young cheese, or nuts as well. I read somewhere that it is often served with lentil soup, which is very unusual. With stewed or fried meat and rice it makes a very good side dish.
Calories and macros
125 kcal
Serving ≈ 320 g
- Protein3 g9% of kcal
- Fat7 g55% of kcal
- Carbs11 g36% of kcal
100 g39 kcalProtein 0.9 gFat 2.3 gCarbs 3.5 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.