Shirazi Salad
Everything cut to the size of a pea, dressed with lime and dried mint, and eaten with a spoon.
Why it works
The whole thing lives or dies on the dice: cut small and even, the cucumber, tomato and onion arrive together in a single spoonful instead of one at a time. Dried mint carries a dusty, concentrated note that fresh mint does not have, and it needs salt and acid to open up, so dress the bowl at the last minute and give it two minutes to come round.
Method
- Dice the cucumber, then the tomatoes, then the onion, tipping each into the same bowl as you go. Scooping the tomato seeds out takes twenty seconds and keeps the bowl from flooding later.
- Rub the dried mint between your palms over the bowl to break it up and release its oil, then add the salt, olive oil and lime juice.
- Turn everything through with a spoon and leave it 2 minutes while you carry the rest of the dinner to the table. Stir in the parsley and taste — it almost always wants more lime and a little more salt.
For the toddler
Spoon out a little diced cucumber and tomato at step 1, while you are still cutting, and leave the raw onion out of theirs. Dress it with a few drops of the olive oil and nothing else, since the salt and lime go into the main bowl at step 2. The 5 mm dice is already the right size for small hands. Give them about a quarter of an adult bowl.
How the toddler notes workChef’s notes
Diced radish for extra crunch, or a little green chilli. Verjuice in place of lime is the more traditional sharpener.
A coarser dice is honest work and takes half the time. The salad sits looser on the plate but tastes the same.
Grilled chicken or lamb kebabs, saffron rice, or a herby bean stew that needs cutting through.
Keeps a day chilled, though it slackens. Drain it and spoon it over flatbread with thick yoghurt.