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Istanbul Eats Cooks: Zübeyir’s Gavurdağı Salatası

2 Comments February 4, 2011 – 9:41 am | Permalink |  Print This Post |

By collecting recipes from our favorite places around town and attempting them in our own kitchen, we’ve figured out one of the best-kept secrets of the Turkish kitchen – namely, that fresh, local produce and a lot of love go a long way. In the case of Zübeyir’s Gavurdağı Salatası – a piquant and utterly fresh-tasting parsley and tomato salad – a little pomegranate molasses is also necessary. A bottle of this, procured from most Turkish or Middle Eastern food shops, will likely become a staple in your salad dressing.

Serves 4 as a side salad.

Ingredients:

2 medium tomatoes
1 long green pepper
½ large white onion
1 bunch of parsley

1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp sumac
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

olive oil
pomegranate molasses

Preparation:

Finely chop the tomatoes, peppers, onions and parsley. Set parsley aside. Mix tomatoes, peppers and onions with spices. Plate the mixture, then lay parsley in a thick layer over the chopped vegetables before drizzling olive oil and pomegranate extract over top.

Note: Zübeyir Usta’s recipe is not precise on the amount of olive oil and extract, but the ratio is 1/1 “until the salad is wet.”

Note: Sometimes this salad is served with crushed walnuts on top, but not at Zübeyir.

(photo by Ansel Mullins)

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