Skip to content

Salad shirazi

Salad-e shirazi: finely diced tomato, cucumber and onion with mint and lime

Salad shirazi is named after Shiraz, the city of gardens in Fars province, and it is the salad served with almost every Persian rice and kebab meal. Tomato, cucumber and onion are cut into tiny, even dice and dressed simply with lime juice (or sour grape verjuice, ab-ghooreh, in Shiraz itself), dried mint and a little oil. There are no peppers or herbs to muddy it: it is crunchy, sharp and cold, and is spooned onto rice as a relish. Chef's tip: dice everything as small as a pea; the tiny cubes are what make it taste like Shirazi rather than a chopped salad.
Total time
10 min
Difficulty
easy
Serves
4
One step at a time, big text, timers, read-aloud. Your screen stays on.

Ingredients

Serves4

Method

0/4 done
  1. Step 1: Put 1 red onion in a sieve and rinse with cold water for a few seconds, then shake dry. This takes the harsh edge off the raw onion.

  2. Step 2: Mix 3 firm ripe tomatoes, 3 small cucumbers and 1 red onion in a bowl. Chill until you are ready to eat.

  3. Step 3: Whisk 3 tbsp lime juice, 1 tbsp olive oil, ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp black pepper, and crumble in 1 tsp dried mint between your palms.

  4. Step 4: Dress the salad at the table, or no more than 5 minutes before. The common mistake is dressing it early: salt draws water from the tomato and cucumber and you end up with a bowl of soup. Serve chilled with rice or bread.

Nutrition per serving

Calories
55 kcal
Protein
1 g
Carbs
7 g
Fat
3 g
Fibre
2 g

Nutrition values are estimates.

K
Recipe by

KrazyBadal

All recipes by this chef →

Good to know

How long does salad shirazi take?
About 10 minutes in total.
How many people does it serve?
4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
Is it vegan?
Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
Is it gluten free?
Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
What can I use instead of firm ripe tomatoes?
Tinned chopped tomatoes: a 400g tin for about 6 tomatoes (in cooked dishes, not salads).
What can I use instead of small cucumbers?
Courgette, same weight (in salads, use young ones).

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.

Rate this recipe

Sign in to rate and review this recipe.

Mix capsicum peanut salad

A crunchy salad of red, yellow and green peppers with roasted peanuts, cucumber, carrots and celery, dressed with lemon, dill, mint and celery leaves. Just before serving, olive oil mixed with sesame seeds is poured over the top. It's colourful, filling and full of protein.

20 minSaladsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 2 views

All-way potato salad

Warm new potatoes boiled in their skins and tossed in one of three dressings: creamy parsley sour cream, a tangy basil vinaigrette, or a fresh 'greeny' dressing of cottage cheese and herbs. Each dressing is enough for 500 g of potatoes, so make one, or make all three for a party. Serve the salad chilled on a bed of lettuce with a spoonful of single cream on top.

40 minSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 1 views

Greek village salad

A true Greek salad has no lettuce: just ripe tomatoes, crunchy cucumber, sharp onion and olives, dressed with good olive oil and dried oregano, with a whole slab of feta on top. Salt the tomatoes first and they'll make their own dressing.

15 minSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 1 views