Salad-e Shirazi (Persian Cucumber, Tomato and Onion Salad)

A convenient source of dried mint can be found in "herbal" mint tea bags.

As a cook from Shiraz, I can say confidently it's Not the original recipe, instead of lime you should use verjuice (from unripe grapes) and also green onion is preferred to red one. It dramatically can change the outcome and you probably would find it more tastey and delicate. Also please forget the olive oil.

I was just looking at this recipe in "Cooking in Iran" by Najmieh Batmanglij. She suggests either verjuice or lime juice. She also has olive oil in the recipe, but says it's optional. Verjuice is not easily sourced in the U.S. and many cooks wouldn't be able to make this if we couldn't substitute.

As Persian-American, I make this salad daily, I always use fresh squeezed lemon juice and if you can't find lemons then use lime. so it is not a big deal :-) Hope this helps :-)

As opposed to lime juice, (which is a substitution) or Verjuice (which can be expensive) go for the real deal: any Middle Eastern grocery store is sure to carry "SOUR GRAPE JUICE" (brands are Sadaf and Golchin). It's cheap, inimitable and makes this salad. While you are there, grab some dried mint (comes in hanging cellophane pkgs) ! It's better quality and, again, cheaper than that found in chain grocery stores. Thank you, Sami, for bringing the great Persian cuisine,to a wider audience.

Disagree with those who object to notes describing substitutions. They are full of useful information.

Like others, I used a little bit of fresh mint (can't use too much) instead of dry mint and a pinch of fresh tarragon in addition to the recipe's good portions of fresh basil, parsley and cilantro, well-stemmed and chopped fine. Given all the work I doubled the amount of herbs for the given volume of cucumber & tomato, and used small sweeter (not cherry but small) tomatoes. I also dressed it a couple of hours in advance as I found the flavors all blend together better once the vinaigrette is add

I have prepared this as one of my summer sides since finding the recipe. It is wonderful as written, and also keeps well a few days. Recently, I had prepared quite a bit more than needed, and found about 2 cups languishing in the back of fridge. Didn’t look as fresh and inviting after a week. So I dumped it all in blender and puréed the crazies out of it. Gazpacho! Just needed a drop of Tabasco.

What is a Persian cucumber??

Back in my college days my Iranian boyfriend used to make this all of the time but he subbed green onions for red and added a healthy dose of olive oil. It was delicious served over the multi-step rice that he prepared and kebabs. I remember those meals well.

Rating vs. Making Notes: if I diverged from the recipe & the results were noteworthy, or if the recipe is one I know from my own experience but seems to have key differences here, I'd Make Note of it (because that's what this section is ideally, a forum for cooks to talk and learn from each other) - however, I wouldn't rate it. Rating is for following the recipe closely. But I don't get the hate aimed at the subbers - how are you so sure they actually rated it? [This note made Without rating.]

Dry mint have a better aroma and taste, especially as a spice. Also black peper(grounded) is good option along with dry mint

Growing up the adults made martini-like beverages from the leftover juice for a fruity acidic digestif. Just an idea

Super quick and easy. I was hesitant about the dried mint but it was lovely! Served with Sam Sifton’s oven roasted Shawarma and saffron rice.

Samin is such a talented, bright, and humble soul. i absolutely love her way of cooking and her recipes are flawless!