Salad Shirazi is one of my favourite salads, its simple ingredients of cucumber, tomato and red onions play together so well, they literally shake your tastebuds alive with every tingling mouthful. An invigorating salad, especially on a hot summer’s day. It’s a very colourful salad too, as you can see.
While it bears a strong resemblance to any generic salad and perhaps most certainly to the Turkish Shepherd Salad, Çoban Salatası, what makes it stand out is the fact that its vegetables are chopped up into tiny little cubes, making it resemble a salsa more in appearance.
Needless to say, Salad Shirazi is very easy to make, sure we do chop up the 3 vegetables a little bit more than we usually would but for this particular amount, it shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes to put it all together.
I’ve been lucky enough to have had this salad made by so many different Persian chefs and homecooks and while the basic 3 ingredients stay the same, there have been slight differences in the dressing, the herbs used and the extra one or two vegetables added to the ensemble.
This recipe is mine, one I’ve been making for well over a decade, and what differentiates it from many others is the combination of parsley and fresh coriander (cilantro). I absolutely love the combination of these two herbs and use them together in many of my Middle Eastern and North African recipes. It didn’t take much stretch of the imagination to combine them in this salad too.
This simple Persian salad makes a delightful and not to mention, vivid, addition to any picnic and barbecue spread. The cool freshness of the cucumbers and tomatoes, the fragrant aroma of the parsley and coriander (cilantro) and the sharp sweetness of the red onions are all brought together by the slightly piquant vinaigrette (dressing), providing a stimulating contrast to whatever comes off your barbie or picnic table.
Whether it’s your favourite burger patty just off the barbie, sizzling hot chicken wings or the summer favourite, kebabs, the Salad Shirazi will set it all off perfectly! Non vegetarian or otherwise.
Making the perfect Salad Shirazi
Cut up the vegetables to the same size, as much as you can. Chop the cucumbers to cubes of just over 1cm (half an in), then follow suit with the tomatoes and the onions, as much as possible.
Tomatoes must be firm and not too ripe. We don’t want the salad to be a wet one from the tomato juices, so avoid over ripe tomatoes. Some people even go as far as removing the seeds of the tomatoes but I think that’s not only robbing the salad of flavour but is just wasteful!
Keep it fresh and keep it cold. You can make it earlier but do not mix the vegetables up, cover them tightly with clingfilm and refrigerate until it’s time to serve, then mix everything up, including the dressing.
The dressing can be made ahead, even the night before, but keep it covered, and in the fridge.
Herbs – should be chopped up as late as possible because they will oxidise and lose colour, flavour and aroma.
There you go folks, a very simple salad for the best start to the week, especially if you’re lucky enough to be enjoying some warm weather. Me? We’ve got the typical British summer so far, wet and windy!
I wish you all a wonderful week ahead, whatever you’ve got planned, make it happen!
And if you fancy more salad or Persian recipes, head on over to the following pages for recipes like the ones in the gallery below:
- Avocado Half Shell Salad
- Eshkeneh, Persian Onion Soup
- Persian Saffron Rice Pudding
- Khoresh Rivas (Persian Rhubarb Stew)
- Avocado Roast Tomatoes Salad
♥ Do you like this recipe? Please give it a 5-star rating below! And when you make it, share it on any social medium and tag me @azlinbloor. Merci! ♥
Salad Shirazi is a simple Persian salad of cucumber, tomato and red onions that will shake your tastebuds alive with every tingling mouthful.
Salad Shirazi | Persian Cucumber, Tomato and Red Onion Salad
Ingredients
Instructions
Nutrition information
This salad looks absolutely refreshing and delicious!
Thank you Marsha!
This sounds like an absolutely wonderful, light and refreshing dish! Perfect for summer! Thanks so much for sharing – I can’t wait to make it!!
Thank you Sarah, let me know if you do!
Sometimes simple is best and I love your customisation of it with parsley & coriander. I can think of many uses for this salad.
Thank you Jane, I do love those two herbs. x
I love chunky chopped salads such as these! I’m not a huuuuge lettuce fan so this is right up my street. I’ll make this for the BBQ I’m having next weekend and see what my guests think!
Thank you Emma, I know what you mean about lettuce! Let me know how it goes!
Yum! This salad looks so simple.
As all salads should be! Thank you! x