Shirazi Salad

My Persian Shirazi Salad recipe is the perfect fast and easy summer salad.

Full of bright Mediterranean flavours of chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, plus fresh herbs like mint and parsley, this shirazi salad comes together in minutes.

This Persian cucumber tomato salad originally comes from Shiraz, Iran (which was previously known as Persia) hence the name shirazi salad.

The dressing for this shirazi salad is traditionally made using unripe or sour grape juice called ab-ghooreh in Persian. The English language equivalent of this product is verjuice (verjus).

Shirazi salad makes a great side dish to accompany other Middle Eastern dishes like shawarma or kebabs.

Why you will love shirazi salad

• Easy to make.
• Bright, fresh flavours.

What you need to make shirazi salad

• tomatoes - I have used truss tomatoes in this recipe, however you could use gourmet or roma varieties as well. It depends on what looks good in the store at the time! You want them to be ripe, but still firm and not soft.
• cucumbers - I used Lebanese cucumbers
• red onion (spanish/purple onion)
• green capsicum (green bell pepper)
• fresh mint
• fresh parsley
• dried mint
• sumac
• verjuice
• extra virgin olive oil
• fine salt

*Please see the recipe card below for exact quantities and detailed instructions

How to make shirazi salad

1. Remove the seeds from the tomatoes.
2. Chop tomatoes, cucumber, green capsicum and red onion into a fine even dice.

3. Add fresh mint, parsley, dried mint and sumac along with verjuice and olive oil.
4. Give it all a gentle mix and season with salt to taste.

Top tips

• I like to remove the seeds from the tomatoes but this is a matter of personal preference. If you leave the seeds in you will have a lot more juices in the base of the salad.
• I find a melon baller or a teaspoon is the best way to remove the seeds from the tomatoes.
• You are looking to have all the ingredients chopped to an even, fine dice.
• If you would like less bite in your red onion you could rinse it in cool water after it's diced then drain it really well on paper towel before you add it to the salad.
• Verjuice can be found near the vinegars in the supermarket.

Variations

• You can use truss tomatoes like I have, or other varieties like gourmet or roma tomatoes too. Look for tomatoes that are ripe but still firm. If they are soft they will break down when you try to dice them.
• If you can't find verjuice, fresh lime juice can be substituted.

Serving suggestions

• Because of it's freshness, this salad is often used as a side for meat based dishes.
• A great choice if you are looking for a salad option without lettuce.
• Serve with dishes like chicken shawarma or these lamb kebabs.

Other recipes you may enjoy

Shawarma Rice - a Middle Eastern inspired one pot chicken and rice dish using thighs marinated in shawarma spices for a quick and easy dinner.

Turkish Onion Salad - sliced red onions lightly marinated in lemon juice and olive oil combined with sumac and fresh parsley to make an easy Turkish onion salad.

Cumin Rice - with fried whole cumin seeds plus onion and garlic together with basmati rice, this Jeera Rice (cumin rice) recipe is packed with flavour and so easy!