Gypsy Salad
This cheerful, tasty salad is an adapation of one from the late Greg Malouf’s magnificent Turkish cookbook, Turquoise. Malouf, of MasterChef fame, became known as Australia’s godfather of Middle Eastern cuisine due to his innovative take on Arabic dishes.
Inroduction
About this Recipe
By: Sheridan Rogers
Cheerful, bright gypsy salads, using mixed raw vegetables are popular in Turkiye. Some are made with grated hard cheese but I really like this one with its tangy yoghurt dressing and the addition of couscous. You can substitute 100g chopped semi-dried tomatoes for the fresh tomatoes (or you could dry the halved tomatoes in a slow oven for a few hours).
Ingredients
Serves 4 – 6
Salad:
- cherry tomatoes 1 punnet, halved
- Lebanese cucumber 1 medium, halved lengthways, seeded and cut into half moons
- red Spanish onion 1 small, peeled and diced
- dried apricots 1/2 cup (75g), diced
- Israeli couscous 1 1/2 cups, cooked (follow packet instructions)
- sweet potato (kumara) 1 1/2 cups (150g), peeled, cut into 2cm dice and roasted
- green beans 1 cup (120g), cut into 4cm lengths and blanched
- blanched almonds 1/2 cup (75g), toasted
Dressing:
- natural thick yoghurt 100ml
- extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon
- lemon 1/2, juiced
- garlic 1 clove, crushed
- salt 1/2 teaspoon
- red chilli flakes 1/4 teaspoon
- ground cumin 1 teaspoon
To serve:
- hummus 2 cups
- pita breads 2, cut into small triangles and crisped in a slow oven
Place all the salad ingredients in a serving bowl and toss well together.
Combine the dressing ingredients and serve in a bowl on the side.
To serve: smear hummus on the bottom of a platter. Place salad on top, drizzle with dressing. Serve pita crisps on the side.
A very attractive way to serve a salad Sheridan I LOVE the look of this recipe.
Will serve itnto guests in Florida soon
Thank you.
The dried apricots are a nice touch. (I thought the cous cous was chick peas at first. )