Simple Jerusalem salad (Israeli salad)

An epicurean adventure to: Israel

This classic Jerusalem salad recipe, also known as Israeli salad, is a popular Middle Eastern salad that can be enjoyed in so many ways!

It mainly consists of finely chopped tomatoes, onion, cucumber and parsley, dressed with a simple olive oil and lemon juice dressing. Serve it as part of any main summer meal, a light meal on its own or add it with falafel to pita bread. Delicious!

The beauty of this vibrant salad is its simplicity, taking barely any time to make and using the simplest of ingredients. There is something pure about it. It's uncomplicated, yet elegant. It's a staple in our house and always a crowd-pleaser at any event.

Jerusalem salad is an important part of Israeli cuisine, symbolising the plentiful harvests and the love for fresh, locally grown ingredients. It has gained popularity not only in Israel but also in many other countries.

This salad is also known as Persian salad, Salat Katzuz, Arabic salad or Shirazi salad. It's a staple in Middle Eastern food and enjoyed in many households, cafes and restaurants. However, with its global popularity, there are now many different versions of this recipe.

Crossing the continents with this, but it's beautiful served with South African Bobotie!

Fast facts - Israel

Fresh tomatoes

You can use any ripe tomatoes you like! We love using the sweeter, smaller varieties like cherry and Roma tomatoes. You can just chop them in half, so it's very little effort.

If you are using large tomatoes, consider removing the seedy parts to avoid adding too much moisture to the salad.

Cucumber

The perfect cucumbers to use are Lebanese or Persian cucumbers. They are smaller and sweeter than the ordinary cucumbers. Sometimes they are just labelled as 'baby cucumbers'. If you can't find them, the more widely available English cucumbers work perfectly fine.

We recommend that, like with the tomatoes, you remove the seedy part of the cucumber. It adds unnecessary moisture to the salad, plus, the centre can often be a bit sour.

Red onion

You can also use white or brown onions. Shallots are great too and slightly less sharp.

Parsley

Tonnes of fresh parsley! This is an integral part of this salad, so please don't skip it or replace it entirely with other herbs.

The dressing ingredients

You can use virgin or extra virgin olive oil.

The lemon juice should preferably be freshly squeezed. You can just tell when lemon juice comes from a bottle!

We like to add a teaspoon of honey to the dressing. It makes such a difference to balance all the sharp tomato and onion flavours.

We use ¼ teaspoon of salt and a good few grinds of black pepper, but you can adjust both of these seasonings to taste.

How to make Jerusalem salad

1. Wash and dry the tomatoes and cucumber.

2. Chop the tomatoes into small chunks.

3. Slice the cucumber lengthways into quarters and remove the centre part of the cucumber containing the seeds. Chop into small chunks of roughly equal size to the tomatoes.

4. Finely dice the onion.

5. Mince the parsley. See how to mince parsley.

6. In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, salt and black pepper.

7. In a large salad or large mixing bowl, toss together all the salad ingredients with the olive oil dressing. Check the seasoning and adjust according to taste.

Variations

For a few different versions of this salad, consider adding:

• Add diced bell pepper.

• Add additional fresh herbs like mint.

• Swap the lemon juice for lime juice.

• Add tahini to the dressing.

• Add Za'atar seasoning or sumac.

• Add radishes, olives, finely shredded lettuce or other leafy greens (lettuce is not traditional though).

• To make it into a substantial meal, add meat like grilled chicken, fish, beef or Tofu.

What to serve the salad with

• Grilled meats like chicken, lamb or beef.

• Grilled fish and seafood dishes, or crispy fish goujons.

• Rice dishes, like this Nando's spicy rice.

• Pizza and Flammkuchen.

• Use in a wrap or a sandwich.

• Works remarkably well as a relish to curries like this Nepalese curry, beef coconut curry, chicken karahi or this pasanda curry.

• Serve with Shawarma.

• Pasta dishes like pasta alla sorentina, pasta fredda or this curry noodle salad.

• Enjoy with pita sandwiches or as a side to falafels.

• Serve alongside hummus.

• Serve alongside couscous.

• Drizzle with lemon Tahini.

Storage

This salad is best enjoyed fresh on the same day it was made, but it will still keep until the next day if kept in an airtight container in the fridge.

The salad tastes best at room temperature, so remove it from the fridge 30 minutes before serving.

More easy side dishes

Roasted tenderstem broccoli

Carrot and swede mash

Curry noodle salad

Crispy crumbed mushrooms

Nando's spicy rice

Egyptian rice