Salad for summer! Yes, I am stating that this the best ever quick and easy salad! I love this salad and you can add your favourite ingredients to it, change the spices to your liking and it will become a staple in your home! I first had this salad when I lived in Turkey where it is called ‘coban salatasi’ (say cho-bhan) translated as ‘shepherd’s salad’ – the food the shepherd would take with him for his daily work – often the food would be gifts from farmers whose livestock they tended.
Firstly, this salad should consist of tomatoes, cucumber, onion and peppers, all chopped into roughly equal sized dice, seasoned and flavoured with an oil and lemon dressing. Being a Turkish dish, often you will find this garnished with black olives and sprinkled with the spice sumac and more often than not, the addition of freshly chopped parsley.
Just the fact that the vegetables are all chopped together and the fresh tomato juice mingles with the other ingredients gives this salad that perfect wow factor. I like to add carrots for a different texture and sometimes skip on the pepper, but whatever you choose, it is always delicious. If I am out and order a side salad which comes as wedges of tomato and thick slices of cucumber, I will duly chop it all up and mix it together to make a delicious shepherds salad – it’s so easy and makes the food much tastier!
The recipe for the salad itself is straightforward, but just in case you need one, here it is:
Delicious chopped salad which is great on its own or as a side for anything!
- 4 tomatoes
- 1 cucumber
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 pepper I prefer red or yellow but green is traditional
- 1 lemon squeezed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- *optional fresh parsley
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Dice all the vegetables into roughly equal sized pieces (pea sized is best), then mix together adding any juice.
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Add the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and parsley if using.
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Stir and leave for the flavours to mingle.
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Enjoy!
- Always use tomatoes and cucumber, but change the other vegetables to your liking.
- Try adding different fresh chopped herbs - basil, coriander, mint.
- Store refrigerated for up to three days.
- Vary the amounts of oil and lemon juice.
- Use fresh lime juice instead or lemon.
- Serve in lettuce boats.
- Spoon onto canapes or crackers with houmous.
- The longer you rest the salad, the more intense the flavours will become. The warmer the salad (i.e. leave it out, not refrigerate it), the more intense the flavours will become.