Israeli salad — finely diced tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs
The salad served with every meal in Israel: ripe tomatoes with their juices, crisp cucumbers, pepper, red onion mellowed in lemon juice, parsley and mint. Everything is cut into neat 5 mm dice and dressed with olive oil at the last moment to keep it crisp.
Ingredients for two
| 300 g | Tomatoes, vine or round 2–3 vine tomatoes, ripe but firm, kept out of the fridge |
| 250 g | Cucumbers 2–3 small Israeli cucumbers, unpeeled |
| 90 g | Red peppers 1/2 pepper, or use a crunchier green pepper |
| 50 g | Red onions 1/3 red onion, or 3 finely sliced spring onions |
| 20 g | Flat-leaf parsley a large handful of leaves, about 6 tbsp once chopped |
| 6 g | Fresh mint about 15 leaves |
| 60 g | Lemon juice of half a lemon, about 1 1/2 tbsp |
| 30 g | Extra virgin olive oil 3 tbsp |
| 3 g | Fine salt 1/2 heaped tsp |
| 1 g | Black peppercorns 10 turns of the pepper mill |
| 2 g | Sumac 1/2 tsp, for fruity acidity (optional) |
Method
- Wash the vegetables and herbs. Dry the parsley and mint thoroughly in a tea towel so they chop cleanly without bruising or darkening. Squeeze the half lemon into a small bowl. Cut the third of a red onion into 3 mm dice, slicing finely in one direction, then the other. Add to the lemon juice with the salt and leave for 10 minutes while you prepare the rest: the onion mellows without losing its flavour and infuses the lemon juice.
- Cut the unpeeled cucumbers into sticks, then into 5 mm dice. Deseed the half pepper and dice to the same size. Pick the parsley and mint leaves and chop finely with a knife, not a food processor, which would darken the herbs. Put everything in a salad bowl.
- Quarter the tomatoes and remove only the stalk ends and hard cores. Keep the seeds and gel, where much of the acidity and flavour lie; the juices at the bottom of the bowl are for soaking up with pita. With a sharp knife, cut the tomatoes into 5 mm dice and add to the bowl last. If the salad must wait, refrigerate without dressing for no more than 1 hour.
- Just before eating, add the onion and its lemon juice to the vegetables, followed by the olive oil, freshly ground pepper and sumac, if using. Toss gently with two spoons and taste a cucumber cube: it should be crisp, tangy and lightly salted. Add a few drops of juice from the other lemon half if needed. Serve immediately in deep plates.
On your plate
Recipe
228 kcal · protein 4 g · carbs 12 g · fat 16 g
Quantities per person
- 150 g Tomatoes, vine or round
- 125 g Cucumbers
- 45 g Red peppers
- 25 g Red onions
- 10 g Flat-leaf parsley
- 3 g Fresh mint
- 30 g Lemon
- 15 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 1.5 g Fine salt
- 0.5 g Black peppercorns
- 1 g Sumac
Cooking tips
The flavour depends on small, even dice and ripe tomatoes kept out of the fridge, as chilling dulls their taste. Cucumbers, pepper and onion can be cut in the morning and refrigerated separately in sealed containers. Cut the tomatoes and herbs at the last moment, no more than 1 hour before serving; once diced, an hour in the fridge will not harm them. Always dress just before eating. Serve warm pita to soak up the juices. Leftovers release water; use them the next day in pita with hummus or in a bowl of bulgur. Variations include diced radishes and spring onions; salat katzutz im tchina, with 2 tbsp tahini mixed with 1 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp cold water and a pinch of salt, drizzled over at serving; or a pinch of za'atar instead of sumac.
Salat katzutz, the chopped salad of kibbutz breakfasts and tables throughout Israel, with roots in Arab and Turkish salads.