Shopska Salad

Shopska Salad (Shopska Salata)

Bulgaria's iconic chopped salad of tomato, cucumber, pepper and onion, finished with a generous snowy topping of grated sirene cheese. The red tomatoes, white cheese and green peppers echo the colors of the Bulgarian flag.

Prep

15 min

Total

15 min

Serves

4

Difficulty

Easy

Recipe ingredients

• •400 g (14 oz) ripe tomatoes, firm, ripe
• •300 g (10½ oz) cucumber, unpeeled, seeds scraped out
• •200 g (7 oz) green bell pepper, or a mix of green and red for color
• •100 g (3½ oz) white onion, or 4-5 spring onions, finely sliced
• •200 g (7 oz) sirene cheese, Bulgarian sirene; substitute with a 50/50 mix of feta and cottage cheese, drained, if unavailable
• •30 ml (2 tbsp) sunflower oil, traditional; olive oil also acceptable
• •15 ml (1 tbsp) red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• •2 g (½ tsp) fine sea salt, or to taste
• •1 g (¼ tsp) freshly ground black pepper
• •5 g (1 small handful) fresh parsley, chopped, optional garnish

Steps

1. 1 Wash and dry the tomatoes, cucumber and pepper. Core the pepper and scrape out the seeds from the cucumber.
2. 2 Dice the tomatoes, cucumber and bell pepper into roughly 1 cm (about ½ inch) cubes. Finely slice the onion into thin rings.
3. 3 Place all the chopped vegetables in a large bowl. Add the salt, pepper, oil and vinegar and toss gently to combine. Let the salad rest for 5 minutes so the juices begin to pool at the bottom.
4. 4 Coarsely grate the sirene cheese on the large holes of a box grater. Pat it dry with paper towels if it releases a lot of brine; you want a fluffy, snow-like texture rather than a wet one.
5. 5 Spoon the dressed vegetables into a serving bowl or onto individual plates, then pile the grated sirene generously on top so the vegetables are nearly hidden. Finish with a sprinkle of chopped parsley if using.
6. 6 Serve immediately at room temperature, alongside a basket of bread and a glass of cold rakia or white wine. (Do not toss the cheese into the salad at the table; Bulgarians keep it as a separate snowy top layer.)