Çoban Salatası | Turkish Shepherd’s Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Olives and Feta

Çoban Salatası or Choban salad (Turkish for Shepherd’s Salad) is a Turkish salad consisting of finely chopped tomatoes (preferably peeled), cucumbers, long green peppers, onion, and flat-leaf parsley. The dressing is made from of lemon juice, olive oil, and salt.

It is another take on the ubiquitous global Tomato and Cucumber Salad. The lovely twist to this one is the finely chopped ingredients, the tang of lemon, and the peeled tomatoes. It is rare that I peel tomatoes, but for this salad I break my own rule. Today we only had large olives in the pantry, but normally I would use smaller ones.

Similar recipes include Tomato Salad with Lemon, Tomato Salad with Parsley Oil, and Warm Tomato Salad.

Browse all of our Tomato Salads and all of our Turkish dishes. Or explore our Mid Spring recipes.

Tomato Crème Fraîche Pasta Sauce (and Dip, Sauce and Salad Dressing)

Years ago, around 1998, I made a spur of the moment dish that turned out to be a winner.  It came together on a Spring evening while hunting around for something to serve with dinner. It is amazing!

The sauce for this dish takes about 3 minutes to prepare and 3 minutes to make – less time than it takes to cook your pasta. It is a dish that has multiple uses and you will love it for its simplicity, clean fresh taste, and versatility. You can even make your own Crème Fraîche.

I rarely use the microwave except for defrosting items from the freezer. You too? Yet this dish is so non-fiddly if it is made in the microwave I am loathed to change the method. 1 dish only – no oil, no sauteing, no mess. We need more such dishes!

Similar recipes include Avocado Salsa, Green Tomato Salsa, and Salsa Verde.

Browse all of our Salsa recipes and all of our Tomato dishes. Or explore our Late Summer recipes.

Red Rice – Rice in Tomato Juice

Remember Rice-a-Riso? It seems it is still being made and sold in supermarkets, but only in Chicken flavour. As a teenager and young adult I loved the tomato one. Imagine my surprise when I first made this dish and it tasted exactly like tomato rice-a-riso. It was a nostalgic moment.

This recipe is very simple, but because it is versatile I need to walk you through a few things first.

Eggplant in Spicy Tomato Sauce

How we love the eggplant and its versatility. This recipe sautés the eggplant until it is golden and then immerses it in a tangy, spicy tomato sauce before serving garnished with herbs. It is easy to make and the perfect side dish or dish to eat just with rice for a light lunch, snack or supper.

Similar recipes include Smoky Roasted Eggplant in Yoghurt, Smoky Eggplants and Tomatoes, and Babaganoush.

Browse all of our Eggplant recipes. Or explore our Mid Autumn dishes.

Burghul, Pistachio and Tomato Salad

Burghul seems to be used mostly a Winter grain, but I would like to reassure you that Summery Salads based on Burghul are terrific. Juicy with ripe tomatoes, fragrant with Pomegranate Molasses, crunchy with nuts, cooling with cucumber and herbs. A perfect fit for a lunch on a hot day, sitting under the grapevines.

Similar recipes include Çorban Salatası, Burghul Salad with Olives, Hazelnuts and Pomegranates, Cauliflower and Burghul Kitchari, and Burghul and Mung Kitchari.

Browse all of our Burghul recipes, our Burghul Salads and all of our Salads. Or explore our Early Summer dishes.

Tri Colour Pachadi

We make raita and yoghurt pachadi often at home – they are easy, no fuss dishes that can be served with an Indian meal or used as sauces and dressings for baked and steamed veggies, in wraps, over simple salads etc.

This raita uses carrots, cucumbers or zucchini, and tomatoes for a colourful raita that brings a happy note to the table. The vegetables are just grated or chopped and incorporated into the yoghurt with some chillies, ginger and a tadka. Enjoy! You could sub other vegetables – finely grated cabbage (red or green), or red or green peppers, for example.

Similar recipes include Asparagus Raita, Okra and Coconut Raita, and Spinach Pachadi.

Browse all of our Raitas and Pachadi recipes. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Early Spring recipes.

Rajasthani Spiced Green Tomatoes | Green Tomato Chutney

Green tomatoes are very special, and how wonderful it is to have a green grocer who knows this and stocks them. To be able to find them easily is exciting, and several always make it into our shopping bag.

This time we made this delightful Spicy Green Tomato dish, and it is a cracker! It can be used either as a Indian style Chutney, or a spicy side dish. It is a Rajasthani recipe that is very easy to make – simply cook the tomatoes with the spices. No complicated procedures involved.

Similar recipes include Green Tomato and Mozzarella Salad, and Green Tomato Salsa.

Browse all of our Green Tomato recipes, and all of our Tomato dishes. Our Indian Chutneys are here, all of our Indian recipes here, and the Indian Essential Series here. Or explore our Early Summer dishes.

Tomato Rasam with Lime Juice

Tomato Rasam has to be one of the most loved Rasams of South India – it certainly is mine. We have a number of different recipes for Tomato Rasam, as well as variations on Lime Rasam, and today I am bringing you Meenakshi Ammal’s recipe. It is an interesting one, using lime juice as the souring agent instead of tamarind. There is no chilli in this recipe, rather black pepper is used to provide some heat. The top water of cooked lentils is also used for added flavour (and nutrition), akin to using stock in Western soups. It is a good practice, one I adopted years ago – when there is flavoursome water in which lentils have been cooked, make rasam. Or at least use in soups. I surprised a friend once – we were on holidays in Hawaii and had cooked some lentils for a lunch dish. I saved the water and whipped up a tasty rasam with some snacks for our afternoon tea. She adored it.

Back to our recipe today. This particular Tomato Rasam is one of Meenakshi Ammal’s from her cook books Cook and See. One of our very special projects in the kitchen is to cook through these books, as they are very traditional Tamil recipes. You can find all of Ammal’s dishes that we have made here. Most of them are from Vol 1 so far.

Similar dishes include Lime Rasam with Green Chillies, Cumin Seed and Pepper Rasam, Kottu Rasam, and Tomato Rasam.

Browse all of our Tomato Rasams and all of our Rasam recipes. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Early Autumn dishes.

Peppery Multi Coloured Salad | Kachumber

Chopped salads are so easy to make with a food processor. Simply add the ingredients and pulse until a perfect texture is achieved. This salad is a breeze with the food processor, and can be made in 2 minutes once the vegetables have been peeled.

The recipe is an Indian salad – salads of this sort are not common but also not unusual. They are a spicy take on English food no doubt. In this one we add black pepper and chilli powder to the salad, and it is dressed with lime juice.

You might like to read What is a Kachumber?

Similar recipes include Capsicum Salad with Tomato Dressing, Chopped Salad, Brown Lentils Sundal, Daikon, Carrot and Coconut Salad, and Maharashtrian Cucumber Salad.

Browse all of our Indian Salads, and our Coleslaw recipes.  All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Mid Spring recipes.

Tamatar Shorba | Indian Tomato Soup

Around the world tomato soup has a special place in the heart of people. My mother rarely made her own – we ate tinned tomato soup, and it was  wonderful! With piles of well buttered toast, butter made from fresh cow’s milk, we ate the soup in front of the wood fire on cold winter nights, slurping bowl after bowl.

While tomato based gravies and sauces are common in India, the idea of soup has not been common until more recent times. And my guess is that the British invasion had a lot to do with the growth of the popularity of Indian Tomato Soup. Derived from other dishes, Indian Tomato Soups (there are lots of different recipes) has gained a place in the heart of many inside and outside of that country.

We have another Indian Tomato Soup, one filled with cream (or use coconut milk) and gentle aromatic spices including lemongrass. It is a great recipe, but this one is different. This one is punchy and spicy, and totally gorgeous. On top of that, it is very easy to make.

North Indian soups are called Shorba and they are packed full of warming spices that help fight off colds and sniffles. In North India when the weather turns chilly you will find the shorba carts rolling into the streets. A traditional shorba is more of a consomme (a thin, watery soup that is very, very flavoursome) rather than the thick soups we are used to in the West. They tend to be served as drinks in small clay cups which warm your hands, your insides and your soul. They can also be served with rice as a winter warmer. Spicy shorbas originated from the Mughal cuisine. The spices used are all about warming your insides so lots of ginger, garlic, chilli and masalas.

Similar recipes include Indian Soup with Drumstick Leaves, Creamy Indian Tomato Soup, South Indian Tomato and Potato Soup, Cream of Potato and Tomato Soup with Leeks, and Tomato Rasam.

Browse all of our Indian Soups, and all of our Indian recipes. Our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Early Summer recipes.