Salata Baladi

Salata Baladi Recipe Notes
Salata Baladi is an Egyptian Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Fresh Herbs, Onion, Olive Oil and Lemon. I read that it is traditionally served at kebab restaurants. I often make it as a side dish for my Egyptian Fava Bean Stew, but it would be delicious on the table amongst any middle eastern inspired fare. 

When I was doing a bit of quick research for this salad, I noticed some recipes approach it differently. The most complicated one involved adding grated tomatoes along with the chopped tomatoes, then adding cubes of ice to get it super cold, and there were other steps...

The concept of the grated tomato, is to create more "juice" in this salad. These juices that inevitably pool together at the bottom of the bowl (from the tomato and dressing), is actually a coveted component of this dish. It's called the "whiskey". (not THAT kind of whiskey). The idea is, you eat the salad, and drink the delicious marinade along side. So, with that being said, from experience I know without adding extra grated tomato, a chopped salad like this will release lots of juices by itself. I saw some recipes that were the same as I am sharing, so I can't speak to what is most authentic. What I can say is, it's a really delicious simple accompaniment to the fava bean stew, and obviously would be great alongside other dishes from the Middle East.

Variations
Also it should be noted the ingredients listed below aren't the only ones I saw in other recipes. Some use different peppers like jalapeno or chili peppers for heat, some add bell peppers along with cucumber & tomato and not all of recipes included carrot. Sometimes I use cayenne pepper, but the last time I had Jalapeno Peppers on hand so I used those.