Shakarob

Ingredients

The salad

• 600 gripe tomatoes
• firm and red
• 2onions, sliced very thin
• a large bunch coriander
• chopped
• a bunch dill, chopped
• optional
• 2green chillies, chopped
• optional

The dressing

• 400 mlqatiq
• sour milk or thin yoghurt
• or 300 g yoghurt
• thinned with water
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• black pepper

Sometimes added

• 1cucumber, diced
• 3garlic cloves, crushed
• a little basil
• a splash of cold water

To serve

• with flatbread
• or layered into qurutob
• cold

Directions

1. Make it close to when you eat it. Salt it only near to serving time. Wash and dry all of the tomatoes. Use ripe but genuinely firm tomatoes. Overripe ones are watery and soft.
2. Cut the tomatoes into thick wedges. Cut them into fairly rough chunks. About two centimetres is right. Squeeze the wedges gently in your hand. Keep all of the juice that runs. Slice the onion as thin as you can. Very thin slices are genuinely wanted.
3. Use a sharp knife or a mandoline. Take real care with a mandoline. Rinse the sliced onion in cold water. Drain and dry it thoroughly after. Rinse and dry it after salting. Wash and dry the herbs thoroughly. Wet herbs water down the salad. Use a very sharp knife for it. Chop them cleanly in one pass. Whisk the qatiq until it is smooth.
4. Add a splash of water if it is thick. It should pour like thin cream. Season the dressing with salt and pepper. Sour milk needs real salt to taste right. Add it gradually and taste again. It should be clearly seasoned. Whisk crushed garlic into the dressing.
5. Crush it to a paste with salt first. Some versions use it and some do not. Put the tomatoes in a wide bowl. Use a wide shallow bowl for it. Scatter the onion over the tomatoes.
6. Add the chopped herbs over that. Pour the sour milk over the salad. Pour enough to pool at the bottom. Add the salt right at the end. Salt draws water from the tomatoes. Add it shortly before serving only.
7. Let it stand for about ten minutes. That is genuinely all it needs. Serve it soon after you make it. It is served genuinely very cold. Serve flatbread alongside the bowl. Do not leave it sitting in the bowl.

Technique

• Add the salt only shortly before serving: salt draws water out of the tomatoes, which thins the dressing considerably and makes it separate. This is dairy served cold and must be refrigerated, keeping only a few hours well — make it close to eating.
• Rest it about ten minutes and chill it about thirty, no longer: it waters considerably as it sits and the herbs darken over time, so that balance genuinely matters.
• Wash and dry the herbs thoroughly, since wet herbs water down the salad, and chop them with a very sharp knife in one clean pass — a blunt blade bruises the leaves and bruised herbs go dark and bitter.

Substitutions

• Thin yoghurt or buttermilk stands in for qatiq, a Central Asian sour milk that is thinner than most yoghurt and slightly effervescent; thin yoghurt with a little water until it pours like thin cream.
• Some cooks salt the sliced onion rather than rinsing it, then rinse and dry it after; both draw out the harshness and both are genuinely done.

Variations

• Squeeze the tomato wedges gently over the bowl to release their juices, since the pink liquid that pools at the bottom — tomato juice mixed with sour milk — is genuinely prized and drunk or soaked up with bread at the end. That looseness is the point rather than a neat sliced salad.
• Slice the onion very thin, since thick onion overwhelms everything, and rinse it in cold water to mellow it, drained and dried after.
• It is eaten alone with flatbread and also layered into qurutob, the Tajik national dish, where torn bread goes down first, qurut sauce over that and shakarob on top — the atlas carries qurutob separately.

History

Summer salad eaten with bread and often layered into qurutob and other bread dishes.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shakarob?

Shakarob is a salad & side from Tajikistan: tomato, onion and herb salad dressed with sour milk. Summer salad eaten with bread and often layered into qurutob and other bread dishes.

How long does Shakarob take to make?

Shakarob takes 20 minutes of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Shakarob?

Yes, within limits. Thin yoghurt or buttermilk stands in for qatiq, a Central Asian sour milk that is thinner than most yoghurt and slightly effervescent; thin yoghurt with a little water until it pours like thin cream. Some cooks salt the sliced onion rather than rinsing it, then rinse and dry it after; both draw out the harshness and both are genuinely done.

What is the most important thing to get right in Shakarob?

Crush it to a paste with salt first. Some versions use it and some do not. Put the tomatoes in a wide bowl. Use a wide shallow bowl for it. Scatter the onion over the tomatoes.