Shirazi salad is a popular Iranian dish, originating in the city of Shiraz. There are several versions of this salad depending on the regions of the country. It is composed of tomato, cucumber, onion and seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice and herbs (and sometimes molasses or verjuice). Thanks to its seasoning, it is a slightly acidic and extremely refreshing. A perfect summer salad for an appetizer or to accompany grilled meats or to be served as a tapas.
I’ve included some ideas below to make it as a main course by adding a few ingredients. Enjoy!
Persian tomato & cucumber salad (Shirazi salad)
Ingredients
- 300 g cucumber preferably Persian cucumber
- 4 large tomatoes
- 1 red onion or 2/3 spring onions
- 6 mint leaves
- 2 sprigs of parsley
- 2 sprigs of coriander
- 4 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp sumac
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Rinse the vegetables. Dice the tomatoes, cucumber and red onion.
- Put everything into a salad bowl.
- Rinse and chop the mint, parsley and coriander and sprinkle over the vegetables.
- Add the oil, lime juice and sumac.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Mix well to soak the raw vegetables in the seasoning. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
- Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator just before serving.
Notes
You can also add a finely diced pepper to this salad and some dill to bring even more freshness to this salad.
To make it as a complete dish, you could add this salad some chickpeas, or buckwheat (kasha), quinoa or bulgur for example, and why not add some black olives and diced feta cheese, for a Greek-Iranian salad!