Salad
6 viral, validated salad recipes — each tested by a named editor in a real kitchen.
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Gado-Gado — Indonesian Salad with Peanut Sauce
Indonesia's beloved composed salad: blanched vegetables, fried tofu and tempeh, boiled egg and potato, all bathed in a warm, sweet-savoury peanut sauce. 'Gado-gado' means 'mix-mix' — it's endlessly adaptable, vegetarian-friendly, and a complete meal in a bowl.
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تبولة
The bright green herb salad of the Levant — and, crucially, mostly parsley. Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley and mint are tossed with a little fine bulgur, diced tomato, lemon juice and good olive oil. Fresh, zingy and herbaceous, it's a mezze cornerstone scooped up with crisp lettuce or romaine.
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فتوش
The Levant's vibrant bread salad: crisp shards of toasted or fried pita tossed at the last minute through crunchy cucumber, tomato, radish, herbs and crisp lettuce, all dressed in a tangy lemon-and-sumac dressing brightened with pomegranate molasses. Sour, herby and refreshing — a mezze-table staple that turns stale flatbread into something irresistible.
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Som Tam — Thai Green Papaya Salad
The fiery, addictive salad of Thailand's northeast: shreds of crisp green papaya pounded in a clay mortar with garlic, chillies, lime, fish sauce and palm sugar, plus tomatoes, long beans and a handful of peanuts. Som tam is hot, sour, salty and sweet all at once, with a bruised-not-blended texture that only a mortar and pestle gives. Made to order and eaten with sticky rice, it's the taste of a Thai street stall.
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Kartoffelsalat — German Potato Salad
Germany's essential side dish, in its southern style: warm waxy potatoes dressed not with mayonnaise but with a savoury, lightly tangy bath of warm broth, vinegar, mustard, oil and onion, soaked in while the potatoes are still warm so they drink up the flavour. Kartoffelsalat is the classic partner to schnitzel, sausages and roasts — and the great north-south, broth-versus-mayo debate is one every German family has an opinion on.
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Larb — Thai-Lao Minced Meat Herb Salad
The bright, punchy minced-meat salad of Laos and northeastern Thailand (Isan): cooked minced pork, chicken or beef tossed while warm with lime juice, fish sauce, chilli, sliced shallots, masses of fresh herbs (mint, coriander, sawtooth) and — the signature — khao khua, toasted ground sticky rice that adds a nutty crunch and binds the dressing. Larb is hot, sour, salty and herbaceous all at once, served at room temperature with sticky rice and raw vegetables to cool the heat. It's fresh, fast and addictive — one of the defining tastes of Isan and Lao cooking.