Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Russian Chopped Salad

I couldn't resist taking a picture of my parents' Russian house salad. The base is cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley or dill, scallions, and either sunflower oil or sour cream for the dressing. Sometimes my mom will add any and all crunchy vegetables in the fridge. The only requirement for this salad is that it’s colorful. Here’s the formula:
Base (all chopped):
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Scallions
Parsley, dill, or preferably both
Optional:
Radishes
Peppers—red, yellow green
Red onions
Pickles
Olives, feta, or blue cheese (not remotely Russian, but good)
Dressing:
Sunflower or olive oil, a bit of grainy mustard, dash of sugar, splash of vinegar, splash of pickle juice (secret ingredient)
Or
A few tablespoons each of sour cream or plain yogurt and mayo, dash of mustard, dash of sugar

2 comments:

Kalyn Denny said...

Very interesting. I have a friend from Iran and he makes something very similar to this and calls it "Persian salad" so I think this is a combination that's popular in many places!

kcmeesha said...

That's my favorite too.But in my family we peel cucumbers,I guess it depends on the Mom :-). I like unrefined sunflower oil, it taste like roasted sunflower seeds. Back in Ukraine I really didn't care for the taste but now I actually like it better.

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