It is a universally acknowledged fact that we eat with our eyes, and this salad, bright with colour, is one that people gravitate towards. Middle Eastern cuisine does this so brilliantly, with its vibrant produce, multi-coloured spices, chilli powders, seeds, sumac, pomegranate and fresh herbs. It’s a feast for the senses, and the dishes, prepared with skill, never disappoint. By borrowing a few ingredients from the Middle East, you can adapt fresh produce you have on hand to create something that is beautiful to look at and to eat. This is a fabulous summer salad and goes well with other salads and grilled meats.
Ingredients 9
2 garlic cloves
150 g yoghurt, see my yoghurt recipe
50 g unhulled tahini
1 red onion, small, thinly sliced
2 tsp sumac, powdered
500 g mixed heirloom tomato, cut into large chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
red-wine vinegar, to taste
2 tsp wild fennel flowers
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Method 5
First, crush your in a mortar and pestle or grate it using a microplane.
Mix with the and and spread that mixture on the base of a platter. You may need to add a splash or two of cold water to get a spreadable consistency.
To make your sumac onions, sprinkle the with a good few pinches of salt and toss together. Allow the salted onion to sit for at least 10 minutes, then rinse under cold water. Try to squeeze out as much excess liquid as you can.
Mix the with the and set aside.
Top the and mixture with the , then sprinkle with the , some red-wine vinegar, flaky sea salt and black pepper. Finally, sprinkle the and sumac onions on top.
Danielle Alvarez's tips
Sumac, if you don’t know it, is a small fruit that is dried and ground into a powder, used for its tart acidity. It replaces other acidic ingredients, such as lemon or vinegar, in this salad entirely. Wild fennel grows in many places in the summer, when tomatoes are also at their peak. If you don’t live somewhere you can find it, swap it for a smaller amount of dried fennel pollen or use fresh herbs such as basil or mint instead.
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