Salad Shirazi

Name: Salad Shirazi
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Persian
Ingredients: 4 Persian cucumbers, finely diced; 3 firm ripe tomatoes, seeded and finely diced; 1 small red onion, finely diced; 4 tbsp fresh lime juice or verjuice; 1 tsp dried mint; 2 tbsp olive oil (optional); ½ tsp salt

Cucumber, tomato and onion salad with mint and lime · سالاد شیرازی

15 min Prep
0 min Cook
4 Servings
Easy

Finely diced cucumber, tomato and onion dressed with lime juice and dried mint: the crisp, sour salad served with every kabob.

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Salad Shirazi — Photo: Imansadighi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped, colour-adjusted)

Named after the city of Shiraz, this is the everyday salad of Iran. The secret is in the cutting: everything is diced very small and evenly, so each spoonful has a little of everything.

In Shiraz the dressing is often verjuice (ab-ghooreh), the juice of unripe grapes; lime juice is the common choice elsewhere. Persian cucumbers, small and thin-skinned, give the best crunch.

Ingredients

Servings 4

4 Persian cucumbers, finely diced
3 firm ripe tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
1 small red onion, finely diced
4 tbsp fresh lime juice or verjuice
1 tsp dried mint
2 tbsp olive oil (optional)
½ tsp salt

Instructions

Dice the cucumbers, tomatoes and onion into small, even cubes of about 5 mm. Discard the watery tomato seeds so the salad stays crisp.
Put everything in a bowl. Crush the dried mint between your palms over the bowl.
Add the lime juice or verjuice, olive oil and salt and toss. Taste and adjust; it should be noticeably sour.
Chill for 15 minutes before serving with kabobs or rice.

Tips & variations

Dress it just before serving if you are making it ahead; salt draws water from the cucumbers.

Rather eat out?

Persian restaurants that serve it:

Ingredients

Instructions

Tips & variations

Rather eat out?

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