Today’s recipe was this month’s Arabic flavor assignment 🙂 Our host Chef Rawan Sawwan chose one of the simplest yet most popular salads in Palestine (and the middle east). The Arabic word for salad is salata and this beautiful salad goes by many names: Salata khadera (green salad), Salata Arabia (Arabic salad), and Salata falahia (farmer salad). As the last name implies this salad was made by farmers out on the field from ingredients that they had on hand. In Palestine, cucumbers and tomatoes (the two key ingredients in this salad as you will see when you read the recipe) are cheap and available in Palestine and most of the middle east almost all year round.

There are three key differences between this salad and any other salad that you may have tried before.
#1: unlike the big bowls of leafy greens that you may be accustomed to if you grew up outside the Middle East, we grow up eating this salad on a weekly (if not daily basis). It is the salad you find in falafel sandwiches, it is a must on the table if you are serving any rice based dish like maqlouba or mujadara and it is on the menu of every single Middle Eastern restaurant.  (On a side note the best way to eat maqlouba or mujadara is to scoop some of this salad (with a spoon and I will tell you why we use a spoon for this in a minute), mix it with some rice on the side of your plate then enjoy the combination of crunchy cucumbers, juicy tomatoes, and perfectly seasoned rice.If you have not tried this combination before, you MUST! )

#2 In addition to being low on leafy greens, what sets this salad apart from other salads is that the vegetables in it are usually finely chopped. Old Palestinian ladies actually take pride in how fine and even their chopped vegetables are in the salad. It is a sign of great care, patience and knife skills 🙂 As a result, the salad is actually served with a spoon, rather than a fork and a knife.

#3 Last but not least, this salad is all about simplicity and enjoying the taste of fresh vegetables unmasked by complex dressings. A squeeze of lemon juice, a sprinkle of salt and a drizzle of olive oil is all the dressing you need. You just have to try this to know that sometimes, the best recipes are the simplest 🙂

Palestinian farmer salad

• Servings: 2
• Time: 10 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

The simplest and tastiest Middle Eastern salad.

Ingredients

• 2 small cucumbers, diced finely
• 3 tomatoes, diced finely
• 1 spring onions chopped (white and green parts) (optional)
• 1 small yellow onion chopped (optional)
• 2 tablespoons parsley, minced
• 2 tablespoons  mint, minced

For the dressing:  

• 2-3 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of 1 fresh lemon (3-4 tablespoons)
• Sprinkle of sea salt

Directions

1.Mix the salad ingredients in a bowl
2.Add the dressing immediately before serving to prevent the salad from going soggy