Gavurdağı Salatası at Sahan Lokantası, Bağdat Caddesi, Istanbul |
I have been building up to a post on this spicy tomato salad for some time now. It’s one of our favourite mezes when we are out and now I know how easy it is to replicate , I can see it’s going to become part of my regular repertoire at home!
delicious juices to mop up with bread |
The tomato season is just starting: as summer advances so their taste improves. Things can only get better!
Gavurdağı makes a good addition to the rakı table! |
Gavurdağ (dağ/ pron: dah) is actually the name of a mountain in the Taurus range down in the south of Turkey and this salad originally hails from Gaziantep, one of the major cities in that region, as so many delicious Turkish dishes do. I wasn’t certain about the addition of the cumin but I found that it goes brilliantly with the tomatoes and gives the salad an exotic Middle Eastern flavour. It’s eaten with meat or kebabs, not fish.
….and at Develi Kebab, Kalamış, Istanbul |
Ingredients for Turkish Tomato Salad with Walnuts & Cumin -Gavurdağı Salatası
Based on a recipe from Refika’s ‘Cooking New Istanbul Style’
Serves 4
4 tomatoes
1 ½ onions
1-2 cups parsley
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp walnuts/ ceviz
2 tbsp olive oil – extra virgin will taste the best
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses/nar ekşişi
1 tbsp cumin/kimyon
1 tbsp flaked red pepper/pul biber
1 tbsp dried mint/kuru nane
Juice of ½ a lemon
1 tsp black pepper
Salt to taste
Method
· Wash and deseed the tomatoes before chopping into small pieces.
de-seeding the tomatoes; peel them too if the skin is thick |
· Discard any excessive juice (otherwise the salad will be too ‘wet’). Place the tomatoes in a bowl. Chop the onions and parsley and add to the tomatoes.
the first time we used spring onions which was fine |
we also added some chopped green pepper (optional) and not included in Refika’s recipe |
· Scatter the cumin, black pepper, flaked red pepper and mint on top and mix gently.
assembling all the ingredients before mixing |
· Crush the garlic and mix with the pomegranate molasses, olive oil and lemon juice. Place in a jam jar and shake to blend.
the dressing for the Gavurdağı Salatası ready to be shaken |
· Add this dressing at the last minute to the tomato mixture in the bowl.
· Arrange the gavurdağı salad on a shallow serving dish and scatter the chopped walnuts over it all.
ready to serve! |
· Refika recommends adding a little nutmeg too and then letting the salad rest for 10 minutes for all the tastes to combine.
I think next time I won’t chop my walnuts quite so small – I prefer the look of the slightly larger pieces. I also recommend using less flaked red pepper than specified here as this made the salad very hot! But maybe you like it like that …
Afiyet olsun!
I highly recommend this salad! Don’t make it too much in advance as it will become very liquid. It doesn’t keep either so make sure you finish it up in one go.
Looks yummy, Claudia. We love cumin and whenever we do a barbecue, our friends always comment on the fact that we use cumin (as in, they think we use too much). I may just let myself loose with this salad and treat them to another real cumin blast! 🙂
Go for it, Julia!!
Looks delicious – I think I had a similar salad when we were in Istanbul in March but I don't think it had cumin in it. I love the variety of Turkish salad dishes. I shall have a go at this one although the tomatoes in the UK are not quite as tasty and I may have to search for the pomegranate molasses!
Thank you very much for the kind words about my blog.
http://missbbobochic.blogspot.co.uk/
wow…does this ever look good! as soon as my tomatoes are ready i will be making this! thanks for yet another fabulous recipe!
This is my kind of a salad. Soon my garden will be full of fresh tomatoes. (They're still green) I know what kind of salad I'll be making. Thanks for sharing!
Oh this is so delicious – I would never have thought of putting walnuts with tomatoes – and this looks SOOOOOOOOOOOO delicious – I'm making this for lunch!!
Mary x
I don't think I've ever used cumin in a salad. Market day tomorrow, so I'll load up with toms and walnuts and give it a go.
Love gavur dagi salata!! especially the marriage of pomegranate molasses with walnuts and tomatoes, divine! haven't tried adding cumin before, you got me thinking there -this goes so well with some tulumba peynir and lavas ekmek, so craving them at the moment 🙂 thanks for this feast!
You are all so sweet – I love your enthusiasm and am v pleased you like this salad. I do love cumin, I must say. Many thanks :))
Gavur dagi salad is my favorite of all Turkish foods!
Delicious Claudia! I hope all is well with you. x
Hiya! yes thanks, everything just wonderful – summer in Turkey is a great time 🙂 Hope you are well too. x
This salad looks very inviting, I've got all the ingredients so sometime this week it will be for dinner. I've never had tomatoes with cumin or walnuts, sounds delish though.
Love the tomato season in Turkey, that was the first time I actually tasted what a tomato supposed to taste like…here they drag them in from Mexico or California, so after those journeys and picked not ripe. Well lets say you could knock out someone's tooth if you whipped at it someone….so hard…..here at the supermarket people pinch and look to see any bruises on the tomatoes but in Turkey the Market guy picks them for you…at first I thought that was strange but all his produce looks perfect.
Thanks for sharing your fab recipe…..and photo's.
Hi Erica! What a fab comment! Thank you so much for this – I really appreciate it and all the other comments too! You are such a faithful follower. As you say, summer tomatoes here in Turkey really are amazing…x
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