For me it is finally starting to feel like summer - I've just about finished university and I'm ready to collapse and do nothing for the summer holidays. I'm rather partial to a salad, especially when it comes to summertime, but sometimes you just fancy something a bit nicer than iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and a few slices of cucumber. And last summer, whilst looking for a new salad recipe to try out, I stumbled across the Iranian Shirazi salad. With just a couple of simple ingredients, you'd think it would be pretty bland and boring. But you'd be wrong. This is up there in my top 5 salads that I've ever eaten (alongside a gorgeous apple and rocket one that I'll probably end up sharing at some point!) - and I've eaten a lot of salads.
Ingredients:
- 2 cucumbers (or 4 Persian cucumbers if you can get hold of them)
- 4 medium salad tomatoes
- 1 medium red onion
- Handful of fresh mint - finely chopped
- Juice of a large lemon
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
Step one.
To a large bowl, add the juice of a lemon and the chopped mint.
Step two.
Chop up the cucumbers, tomatoes, and red onion into really, really small cubes, and add to the bowl. Mix really well to make sure all the veggies are coated with the lemon and mint, and can absorb the delicious flavours! Traditionally everything is chopped up really small so you can have a taste of each ingredient in every mouthful.
Step three.
Season with salt and pepper - I don't add salt to pretty much anything, so I just used the pepper and I thought that was more than enough alongside the fresh veggies, the lemon and the mint!
And there you have it! A delicious salad! As always, please let me know if you have a go at making this and tell me whether or not you liked it!
