Çoban Salatası / Shepherd's salad

Çoban Salatası / Shepherd's salad

Without a doubt, Çoban Salatası / Shepherd's salad is the most common salad in Turkey during summer. Prepared with fresh local, red tomatoes from farms, cucumbers (thin and small ones, without seeds!) and onion... You would see this salad served every Turkish restaurant you go, especially kebap places. I believe this is to increase your appetite so you can eat more and more!

Ingredients 

Note: I am not a picky cook about the amount of ingredients, especially about salads. This is just a suggestion to serve 4-6 people

2 tomatoes finely chopped
1 onion finely sliced
2 cucumbers  finely chopped
1green pepper, seeded finely chopped
½ bunch flat-leaf (italian) parsley, chopped (I skipped this as I don't like parsley)
Dressing: 

5 tablespoons of olive oil
1 lemon juice
Salt and Pepper

Optional: Topping with Turkish black olives

Preparation:

Put all the salad ingredients.

Always better to mix dressing ingredients separately and add the dressing to the salad right before serving and mix.

Notes:

• Tastes great when chilled  but make sure to cover it otherwise you will have an onion smelly fridge!
• The salad juice is the most delicious part. Just dip your bread and enjoy!
• The version with feta cheese addition is called gypsy salad (cingene salatasi)
• This salad has the typical Turkish salad dressing thatconsists of lemon juice , olive oil and salt. Some people replace lemon juice with vinegar or pomegranate sauce,  a sweet source sauce that is great for kisir(bulgur salad).