Tunisian style salad is really easy to prepare and makes a tasty side-dish for any meal. It's usually eaten with a spoon (as the vegetables are finely chopped for this dish), but can also be eaten with bread: a traditional Tunisian method of eating!

Here's what you'll need:

• Half a cucumber


• About 2 mewdium (or one large) tomatoes


• Small red onion


• Capsicum peppers (1/2 each red and green)


• Olive oil


• Lemon juice

To decorate:

• Black olives


• Boiled eggs


• Fresh parsley


• A few lettuce leaves

Here's how to make your Tunisian style salad:

1. Get yourself a large mixing bowl.


2. Finely chop the onion and add to the dish.


3. To finely chop the cucumber, here's a little trick: get a sharp knife and make slices about 1/2 a centimetre wide across the pale flesh of the halved cucumber (towards the base). Make sure you don't cut theough: you want these slices to stay on for the time being! Turn the cucumber round 90 degrees and do the same again, like a cross hatch design. Then cut through the green skin as though you are making slices: the small chunks should come off perfectly! Once you've chopped all of the cucumber, add this to the bowl.


4. To chop the tomatoes, cut into quarters and remove the flesh (set to one side). Then chop the more solid parts as fine as you did the cucumber. Add this and the squishy parts to the bowl.


5. Finely chop the peppers; add these too.


6. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to the bowl. Mix well and taste. Add more seasoning/olive oil/lemon juice to suit your taste.


7. Serve in a large salad bowl on a bed of lettuce leaves. Add black olives, slices of hard boiled eggs and sprinkle with a handful of chopped fresh parsley.


8. Enjoy!

I hope you enjoy this easy recipe, which is something we enjoy regularly at home. More Tunisian recipe ideas next week!

See also:

• Tasty Tuesday: Tunisian Tagine

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