Most Uzbeks live in the more agriculturally fertile regions of Central Asia, and these two simple salads of available fruits, vegetables, dairy, and herbs are fine starters for an Uzbek meal. The apple salad is slightly sweet, the cucumber slightly salty, and both are palate-cleansing preparation for the dinner to come. Do not be scared away by the raw onion: in both cases the separated rings are tamed by steeping them in hot water. About ten minutes should suffice, although this will depend to some extent on the onions; use a sweeter variety if you can, slice thinly, and taste after ten minutes to see if the sulfur has been sufficiently calmed. For the apple salad I used Cox’s apples, a flavourful snacking variety and especially good this year in the UK.
If you do not have pomegrantate seeds handy, sultanas plumped in apple juice would also work well. For the second salad, an English cucumber can keep its seeds, and the moisture that comes with their pulp, but a less delicate cucumber might be better seeded, if you prefer. These salads are very simple, so take care to use a good yogurt and a good goat’s feta. Flatbreads are also traditionally offered at the beginning of an Uzbek meal, so certainly bring them out if you are able.
Apple Salad
15 minutes; serves four
1 small onion, sliced into thin rounds and separated into rings
3 small apples
1/4 cup yogurt
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper
1 pomegranate
1. Cover the onion rings with hot water and leave to steep for ten minutes.
2. Quarter, core and cut the apples into thin wedges.
3. Place the yogurt in a bowl and stir in the salt.
4. Drain the onion slices and rinse them quickly in cold water.
5. Toss the onion and apple in the yogurt to cover (fingers are most the efficient here).
6. Dress with black pepper and seeds of the pomegranate.
Cucumber Salad
1 small onion, sliced in thin rounds and separated into rings
1 cucumber, peeled, halved and perhaps seeded, perhaps not
4 oz goat’s feta
black pepper
handful of dill
1. Cover the onion rings with hot water and leave to steep for ten minutes.
2. Slice the cucumber, crosswise, 1/4 inch thick.
3. Drain the onion slices and rinse them briefly in cold water.
4. Arrange the cucumber slices and onion in a pile on the plate, and scatter first with feta and then with dill.
What kind of yogurt is used for the apple salad?
I made it twice with commonplace plain yogurt, nothing fancy from a specialty shop. This thinner style of yogurt covers better than the Greek-style does. The Russian yogurt that I have eaten in the past is thinner than the Greek, more like the yogurt North Americans are used to, so I think that thinner yogurt is more authentic for this salad, anyway. If what you have on hand is the thick and creamy Greek yogurt that it is more like yogurt cheese, you can always thin it with a little milk. I think that the most important thing is to season the yogurt with salt to your taste. The salt, pepper and sourness of the yogurt fight the apple’s and pomegranate’s wish to be part of desserts rather than salads.
The tricky bit with this salad is the onion, because the amount of soaking needed to temper the sulfur varies. Outside of Central Asia, our palates are not often accustomed to raw onion, so I think most people would rather remove more of it than less. I made this salad twice with two different onions, and there were big differences. A vidalia or walla walla onion would be easy, I think, and if you have access to a Mexican grocery, they usually stock lovely sweet onions, although the season for them is spring.
Hope that helps! It’s an unexpected sort of salad, very simple and quick, and mine kept well through the afternoon, which I was surprised at because I thought the apples would brown (the yogurt protects them from oxidation). This is definitely the season for lovely apples.
you have such neat recipes! I will have to try them sometime! Great site! The only problem I would have is to try and find some of these ingredients! My local piggly wiggly just doesn’t stock great international fare!
Thanks! It is helpful to have supplies; we’re lucky to live in an immigrant neighbourhood. I’m researching sub-Saharan African food this week, and a lot of the raw materials (pumpkin, peanuts, cornmeal, black-eyed peas) would be at the Piggly Wiggly. The ties between Southern-American cooking and Central-African cooking are quite strong, not suprisingly.