Twice recently at special events, I had this delicious salad, made with various greens, nuts, and craisins, and it was so amazing, I asked my friends what it was called. And I got a bunch of very surprised people who were surprised that I didn't know what it was, because apparently its served all over locally, and I just discovered it after living here for 13 years! And its name is a simple as "Middle Eastern greens salad".
What I like about this salad is it is relatively versatile. You use herbs (the ones I used are terrific, but feel free to play around and use other herbs, like cilantro or dill), and then instead of craisins you can use pomegranate seeds, and instead of the almonds you can use peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, or a mix. And while I used honey in mine, sugar works just as well.
And depending on how you make it, this is either paleo and/or vegan, and of course is gluten free as well.
Enjoy playing around with it, and enjoy!
Middle Eastern Greens Salad Recipe -- Easy, Variable, and Delicious
Ingredients:1 cup packed parsley, chopped
1/2 cup mint leaves, packed, chopped
1 packed cup celery, chopped, mostly leaves
1/3 to 1/2 cup almonds (slivered, chopped, etc...), peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, or other nuts of choice
1/2 to 2/3 cup craisins or pomegranate
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon honey, jaggery syrup, or sugar
Instructions:
1. Remove the mint leaves from the stems, and chop them.
2. Chop up parsley, stems and all, and celery, mainly leaves but also some stalk, but very small, and mix together with the mint leaves.
3. Add nuts/seeds and craisins/pomegranates.
4. Mix the oil, lemon juice, salt, and sweetener.
5. Pour dressing onto the salad and mix well, ideally five minutes before serving.
Enjoy!
Ever have a salad like this? Do you make something like this? What do you put in it? Does this look like a recipe you'd try?
Tags
allergy friendly
dairy free
egg free
frugal recipes
gluten free
made from scratch
middle eastern
nuts and seeds
paleo
produce
recipes
restaurant food
salad
salads
vegan
Never heard of it but thank you for the idea it sounds delicious. hard to get parsley in Bangladesh so plan to use cilantro instead.
ReplyDeleteI just want to say thank you for your recent recipe for the Middle Eastern herb salad with nuts and dried fruit. I like it for a few reasons:
ReplyDelete1. It frees me from the need to use insipid non-crunchy local lettuce or bring in lettuce from the UK. These chopped herbs are delicious and crunchy and tasty.
2. If I put your recipe dressing on the salad, it stays crunchy even though I don't use the whole salad at one sitting.
3. I presume it has more nutritional value than a simple lettuce salad, even without the addition of the dried fruit and nuts.
DH loves it !
So thank you so much! This is my new favourite salad!
I made this and it was great, so thank you! I will put in less lemon next time, and probably less mint as well
ReplyDelete