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Cooked chickpeas (tinned for speed, OR overnight-soaked and home-cooked for the best texture) toss with diced red onion, finely chopped tomato, small-diced boiled potato and chopped fresh coriander. The dressing: lemon juice, chaat masala (a salty-sour spice mix sold at Pakistani shops), roasted ground cumin, Kashmiri chilli powder and a pinch of salt. Hot chilli sauce and tamarind chutney drizzle on; the chaat tosses; crushed papri tops; eat immediately.
The Azerbaijani version of the shepherd's salad that turns up in some form on every table from the Balkans to Persia, the bright herby counter to anything rich coming out of the kitchen. You dice tomatoes, cucumber and red onion to five-millimetre cubes (smaller than a typical chopped salad, almost a relish) and chop the herbs fine: dill, mint and tarragon, the tarragon being the move that distinguishes the Azeri version from its neighbours. Everything tosses together with olive oil, lemon juice and salt about fifteen minutes before serving, so the salt draws the tomato juice out and the salad relaxes into itself. Best the same day; the salad weeps if held overnight. Eat with grilled meat, with plov, with lavash, with whatever the main is.
Pita breads are torn into pieces and toasted (or fried) until crisp and crunchy. Chopped vegetables, mint, parsley and a sumac-lemon-olive-oil dressing are tossed together; the toasted pita goes in last so it stays crunchy. Eaten immediately before the bread goes soft.
A torn pita is brushed with olive oil and grilled or fried until golden and crisp. Cucumber, tomato, radish, romaine, spring onion, parsley and mint are roughly chopped into a wide bowl. A dressing of lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, sumac, garlic, olive oil and salt is whisked. The salad is tossed with the dressing just before serving; the pita is scattered on top so it stays crisp.
The Saudi take on foul medames, somewhere between the Egyptian original and the Yemeni daal-like versions. You soak dried fava beans overnight, then simmer them with a chickpea or two and a garlic clove for six hours low and slow (or pressure-cook for forty-five minutes if you don't have the day) until they're so soft they fall apart at a glance. Once drained, the beans go back into a hot pan with olive oil and garlic, cumin and a hit of chilli; you crush them roughly with a fork (chunky, not smooth) and finish with lemon and a handful of chopped parsley. Eaten warm for breakfast across the Gulf, scooped with flatbread, with a side of pickles or salata hara, and a glass of mint tea.
Firm green tomatoes slice 8 mm thick. Salt 10 minutes to draw water. Dredge: seasoned flour → beaten egg + buttermilk → seasoned cornmeal + breadcrumbs (this triple-dredge gives the crispiest coat). Shallow-fry in oil at 180°C until deep gold. Drain; salt; serve with rémoulade.
Vegetables are diced into uniform 5 mm cubes, knife work matters. Lemon juice, olive oil and salt are the only dressing; sometimes a teaspoon of sumac or a clove of crushed garlic. Eaten freshly made; doesn't keep, the cucumbers weep.
Vegetables dice into 5 mm cubes, uniform size matters for both look and dressing. Lime juice, salt, chaat masala and a finely-chopped chilli toss through. Coriander on top. Eat within an hour or the salad goes watery.
Split yellow moong dal (or chana dal, or a mix) is rinsed and pressure-cooked or simmered with turmeric until completely soft. The dal is mashed lightly to a porridge consistency. A second pan fries ghee with whole cumin, garlic, sliced green chilli, dried red chilli and curry leaves until the garlic just turns golden. The hot tarka is poured over the dal with a dramatic sizzle; coriander and lemon finish.
A large cabbage core-out, blanched briefly, leaves separated. Filling: short-grain rice mixed raw with beef mince, chopped onion, parsley, dill, mint, dried mint, cumin, allspice, tomato puree, salt, pepper, plenty of olive oil. Each leaf rolls around a tablespoon of filling. Packed tight in a wide pot lined with sliced tomato. Garlic-tomato cooking liquid poured to nearly cover. Weighted with a plate. Cooked covered 1 hour on the lowest heat.
Maris Piper or floury potatoes peel and cube 2 ½ cm. Double-cook for shatter-crisp shell + fluffy interior: blanch / boil for 8 minutes till just tender, drain, cool slightly. Brava sauce: olive oil heats with garlic and a touch of flour; smoked paprika + cayenne stir in 30 seconds; tomato passata, sherry vinegar, salt, sugar; simmer for 15 minutes; blend if you want a smooth sauce or leave rustic. Optional garlic aioli: garlic-and-egg-yolk mayonnaise. Potatoes fry in hot oil 6-8 minutes till deep gold. Plate with sauce zigzagged over; aioli alongside.
Chile's table salsa, the fresh chunky relish that turns up in a small bowl next to bread before any meal and stays on the table until everything is gone. You chop tomato, onion and coriander fine (smaller than a chopped salad, almost a relish), then combine with crushed garlic, ají chilli (or red chilli if ají isn't around), olive oil, vinegar or lemon, salt and pepper. Fold gently and let sit for ten minutes so the flavours mingle. Eaten with fresh bread before a meal, spooned over grilled meat, alongside empanadas, with chorrillana, with cazuela. Basically with anything savoury that comes out of a Chilean kitchen.
Green chillies (the long Anaheim-style or Hatch; bird's-eye for serious heat), garlic, coriander, parsley, salt and a small amount of olive oil are pounded in a mortar (or pulsed in a small food processor) to a chunky bright-green paste. A pinch of ground cardamom and cumin lifts it slightly; lemon juice keeps the colour. Made fresh; eaten within 2-3 days.
Salata afghani is the salad that goes alongside every Afghan main, no exceptions: tomato, cucumber and red onion diced fine and even, dressed with lemon, olive oil and dried mint, scattered with fresh coriander. The technique is in the cut. Everything dices the same size (about 5 mm) so a spoonful gives you a clean mouthful of all three vegetables. Whisk the dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, dried mint, salt and a small green chilli; toss it through the diced vegetables at the last minute (the salt draws a little water out and the flavours mingle without dissolving the cucumber). Fresh coriander goes on top right before serving.
Tomato, cucumber and onion all diced very small (the cut is small, 5 mm pieces, not chunky). Fresh parsley, mint and an optional chilli chop. Everything mixes in a wide bowl with lemon juice, olive oil, sumac, salt and pepper. Rest for 5 minutes for the flavours to integrate. Eat immediately, the tomato weeps quickly and the salad goes watery after an hour.
Tomato, cucumber, onion and green pepper dice fine. Tossed with lemon, olive oil, salt, ground cumin and parsley. A pinch of dried mint or fresh coriander finishes. Made fresh; eaten within an hour.
The chunky chopped salad that sits next to almost everything on a Saudi table: the relish that gives kabsa its bright counter, the cool against grilled meat, the freshness against rich rice. You chop tomato, cucumber and onion fine (the size matters: bigger than a salsa, smaller than a Greek salad), throw in parsley and a green chilli or two, and dress with lemon, olive oil, a pinch of cumin and salt. Five minutes' rest before serving lets the salt draw out a little tomato juice, which becomes the dressing the salad makes for itself. Vivid, crunchy, mildly hot, fast enough to put together while the kabsa rests under its lid. Eaten as a side dish, scooped with bread, or spooned over rice as you go.
A simple yeasted bread dough rises for 1 hour; balls are divided and rolled into 9 cm rounds. A raw mince mixture of lamb, grated onion, tomato, pomegranate molasses, Aleppo pepper, allspice and pine nuts is spread thinly on top. Baked for 12-14 minutes at 230°C, high heat so the dough turns crisp before the meat dries out. Served warm with lemon wedges and yogurt.
Raw shrimp marinate briefly in buttermilk and hot sauce; dredge in seasoned flour and cornmeal mix; deep-fry at 180°C until deep gold and crisp (2-3 minutes, shrimp cook fast). Long French rolls split lengthways; toasted on the cut side; slathered with mayo and Creole mustard; piled with shrimp, lettuce, tomato, pickles. Wrap halfway in paper; eat.
Bulgur soaks briefly in lemon juice, not water, so it tenderises while taking on flavour. Parsley is washed, dried thoroughly, and chopped to fine green confetti. Tomato dices small and drains. Mint and spring onion go in fine. Everything tosses with olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper. No need to rest; eat right away.