Herb salad
Herb Salad – Egyptian salata Baladi
Herb Salad – Egyptian salata baladi is wonderfully fresh. It’s made with herbs, salad vegetables and red onions. Using fresh herbs instead of lettuce brings so much additional flavour. It also has many health benefits.
Fully ripened by the sun – the flavours are incredible
Fruit and vegetables are generally seasonal in Egypt. They are allowed to fully mature in the fields, ripened by the sun and arrive at the market within hours. As a result, the flavours are incredible.
Do yourself a favour
I would suggest that buying the best tomatoes you possibly can, makes all the difference when it comes to this salad. If you buy ecconomy tomatoes which have been grown in a greenhouse, in artificial conditions, that have never felt the warmth of the sun and never even had their roots in the soil and have just been fed on liquid fertilizer, then they’re not going to have any real flavour. So, please do yourself a favour buy the best you can.
Salads are served with EVERY meal
Salads are an important part of Egyptian cuisine. And this herb salad is served with just about every meal in Egypt; breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Salad is served in small individual bowls and eaten with a teaspoon. Everything needs to be very finely chopped, so you get a mixture of all the ingredients when you take a mouthful. The red onion is the exception for this rule. The onion is slices finely into half moons and the individual layers, seperated.
Ingredients
- ½ red onion – cut in half and thinly sliced into 1/2 moons
- 3 ripe red tomatoes – finely chopped
- 1 Arabic cucumber or ½ English cucumber – finely chopped
- 1 bunch of fresh mixed herbs – flat leaf parsley, coriander, mint & dill – finely chopped
For seasoning
- White vinegar
- Lemon juice
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
Making this herb salad – Egyptian Salata Baladi couldn’t be simpler
Marinate the onion in a little white vinegar for 10 minutes to reduce the harshness of its flavour.
Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl just before serving. Season at the same time with
lemon juice, salt, pepper and a little olive oil.
Serve in small individual bowls.
This herb salad is packed with flavour and it’s incredibly good for you.
In recent years I have become a fan of The Doctor’s Kitchen. Dr Rupy Aujla educates us in the benefits of eating food which promotes good health and healing. He talks about ” eating the rainbow”. Telling us how the vibrant colours in fruits and vegetables signify high levels of nutrients that can improve our health and increase our energy levels. This salad does just that. I do hope you enjoy it.