Cherry Tomato and Mini Sweet Pepper Green Salad with Tahini Sauce and Dukkah

Categories : easy peasy, lent, potatoes & vegetables, Recipes, soups & salads, vegetarian or vegan

A delicious salad with a beautiful combination of flavours and textures. Soft baby leaves, sweet baby tomatoes and mini peppers, tangy tahini sauce and crunchy, fragrant dukkah. A salad to satisfy the taste buds.

Cherry Tomato and Mini Sweet Pepper Green Salad with Tahini Sauce and Dukkah www.thefoodiecorner.gr – Photo description: A hand holding some mini sweet peppers in a linen napkin.

Back today with another contribution to the Love My Salad website. A gorgeous salad that I fell in love with at first test! I’m going to start off by saying this. Please please don’t be put off by the long ingredient list. It’s incredibly easy and you can make most of it beforehand. Also the sauce and dukkah can be used for other dishes too. So stay with me!

Cherry Tomato and Mini Sweet Pepper Green Salad with Tahini Sauce and Dukkah www.thefoodiecorner.gr Photo description: mini peppers and cherry tomatoes on a linen napkin. To the side is a knife with a wooden handle.

Cherry Tomato and Mini Sweet Pepper Green Salad with Tahini Sauce and Dukkah www.thefoodiecorner.gr Photo description: A large ceramic dish with green salad leaves and a chopping board with mini sweet peppers and baby plum tomatoes.

The base of the salad is a mix of deliciously tender baby leaves; I used spinach, rocket (arugula) and lettuce but you can use baby beetroot leaves and baby mustard leaves too (I tried these recently and they are so good). Then I added cherry tomatoes, the multi-coloured kind, and some baby plum tomatoes too, sweet and juicy. And finally, the stars of the show, mini sweet peppers. Are they not absolutely gorgeous? I love bell peppers and these are just amazingly fresh and crunchy. Perfect for a spring salad.

Cherry Tomato and Mini Sweet Pepper Green Salad with Tahini Sauce and Dukkah www.thefoodiecorner.gr Photo description: a chopping board with sliced mini pepper and a knife. Around the chopping board are some baby tomatoes, mini peppers, a plate of dukkah and a jug of sauce.

Cherry Tomato and Mini Sweet Pepper Green Salad with Tahini Sauce and Dukkah www.thefoodiecorner.gr Photo description: A large dish with salad sitting on a linen napkin. To the top is a small plate of dukkah and a small jug of tahini sauce.

I decided to pair the salad with a tahini sauce. It’s Lent here in Greece at the moment so many people are fasting, and tahini is used much more widely at this time. The sauce isn’t something I thought of myself, it’s a classic in Middle Eastern and also Cypriot cuisines, and you can find various recipes for it. Mine is fairly runny as it was made with the intention of dressing a salad. You can play with the ratios if you want to change the consistency. Sometimes this sauce is served as a dip for example, so it would be good to make it thicker in that case. I’ve used powdered garlic instead of garlic cloves because I prefer a less intense flavour. Feel free to use half a garlic clove or so for something stronger. Be careful it doesn’t overpower all the other elements of the dish though.

Cherry Tomato and Mini Sweet Pepper Green Salad with Tahini Sauce and Dukkah www.thefoodiecorner.gr Photo description: side view of a large dish with salad and hand pouring sauce over the top.

Finally, the dukkah. Dukkah, where have you been all my life? This amazing mix of nuts, seeds and spices is the perfect accompaniment to salad. Of course it has other brilliant ways it can be used but wow, the subtle flavour and the interesting texture it provides to salad is just gorgeous. You really must give it a go! As always, if you try a recipe of mine I would love to see it, so don’t forget to snap a pic and tag me on Instagram (@thefoodiecorner & #thefoodiecorner) so I can find it!

Cherry Tomato and Mini Sweet Pepper Green Salad with Tahini Sauce and Dukkah www.thefoodiecorner.gr Photo description: a large ceramic dish full of salad, the sliced peppers arranged on top of the leaves in a pretty pattern. The salad has been sprinkled with dukkah and drizzled with tahini sauce. To the top of the photo a small plate of dukkah with a spoon in it, a small ceramic jug with sauce and a plate with wooden salad spoons on it.

Ingredients

For the tahini sauce
2 Tbs (30 ml) tahini (mix it well in the jar so it’s runny)
2 Tbs (30 ml) water
1 Tbs (15 ml) lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 tsp garlic powder (or half a minced garlic clove for a stronger taste)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

For the dukkah
2 Tbs (17 gr) sesame seeds, raw
2 Tbs (20 gr) hazelnuts, toasted
2 Tbs (20 gr) almonds, raw
1/2 tsp cumin, powdered
1/4 tsp coriander, powdered
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

For the salad
100 gr mixed green leaves (e.g. baby spinach, rocket, lettuce)
250 gr cherry or baby plum tomatoes, halved
100 gr mini sweet peppers (or regular sweet bell peppers), sliced

Step 1

For the tahini sauce, add the tahini, water, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper to a small bowl and mix with a fork or spoon. To start with it will look like it’s separating, but it will smooth out if you keep stirring.

Step 2

To make the dukkah mix start with toasting the sesame seeds. Place the seeds in a cold non-stick frying pan, turn the heat to high and toast for a few minutes stirring very often. The time will depend on how strong your hotplate is but it should be between 3 and 6 minutes. Watch them continuously so they don’t catch. As soon as the seeds become a golden colour and start to smell nice, they are ready. Remove from the pan straight away so they don’t continue to cook.

Step 3

Combine the toasted sesame seeds, hazelnuts, almonds, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper in a small food processor. Pulse in short bursts until the nuts are roughly chopped. We want a crunchy dukkah for this recipe. Transfer to a small jar with a lid as you won’t be using all of it in one go.

Step 4

To make the salad arrange the mixed leaves, cherry tomatoes and mini peppers in a bowl or large dish. Drizzle in the tahini sauce (all of it or less if you prefer) and sprinkle about 3 tablespoons of dukkah over the top. Toss well and serve.

Notes: The almonds can be toasted too, I just prefer their flavour when raw. You can also use other nuts if preferable, or add seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower, flax etc.

This post is sponsored by Love My Salad. All opinions are my own and completely honest.