Shopska salad

Ingredients

Salad

• 500 gripe tomatoes, in 2 cm chunks
• 300 gcucumbers, peeled in stripes and cut in half-moons
• 2red peppers, roasted, peeled and cut in strips
• 1small onion, sliced paper-thin
• ½ bunchflat parsley, roughly chopped

Dressing

• 3 tbspsunflower oil
• 1 tbspred wine vinegar
• 1 tspfine salt

To finish

• 200 gBulgarian sirene, grated on the coarse side of a box grater
• A few olives (optional)

Directions

1. Roast the peppers over a flame or under a hot grill until the skin blisters black, then steam them covered for 15 minutes and peel. This is the one cooked element and it is what separates a shopska from a generic tomato salad.
2. Cut the tomatoes into generous chunks over the bowl so none of the juice is lost — that juice becomes part of the dressing.
3. Peel the cucumbers in alternating stripes, halve lengthwise, and slice into thick half-moons so they stay crunchy.
4. Slice the onion as thinly as you can and, if it is fierce, rinse it briefly under cold water and pat dry.
5. Combine tomato, cucumber, pepper strips, onion and parsley in a wide shallow bowl and toss gently just once.
6. Dress with the sunflower oil, vinegar and salt and toss again — sunflower oil, not olive; the neutral nuttiness is the Bulgarian taste.
7. Grate the sirene in a thick even blanket over the whole surface so the vegetables are completely hidden under white. Do not stir it in.
8. Serve immediately, at cool room temperature, with a shot of rakia and bread for the juices at the bottom.

Technique

• The white cap of grated cheese is the point: the finished salad shows red, green and white, the colours of the Bulgarian flag, and it is always presented untossed.
• The name refers to the Shopluk region around Sofia, but the salad as we know it was almost certainly formalised in the 1950s and 60s by the state tourism agency Balkantourist, which promoted it as a national dish. Bulgarians will tell you it is ancient; the documentary record says the modern version is not.
• Never refrigerate the tomatoes. Cold kills their aroma, and this salad is nothing but the quality of the tomato.

Substitutions

• Feta grated coarse is the usual substitute for sirene, though it is firmer and less tangy; drain it well and grate it from cold.
• Jarred roasted peppers are acceptable out of season — rinse off the brine and dry them first.

Variations

• Ovcharska (shepherd’s) salad builds on the same base with mushrooms, boiled egg and cured meat for a fuller plate.
• Some cooks add a finely chopped green chilli, which is common in the southwest.

History

A simple salad of tomato, cucumber, onion and pepper, topped generously with grated white brined cheese called sirene, invented deliberately in the 1950s by Bulgarian state tourism authorities specifically to promote Bulgarian cuisine to visiting foreign tourists during the Communist era, making it, unlike most dishes with claimed folk origins, a documented and comparatively recent, purposeful creation rather than an old traditional recipe. Its name refers to the Shopi, an ethnic and regional group from the area around Sofia, though the salad was not necessarily a longstanding Shopi dish before being formally named and promoted. Despite its comparatively recent and deliberately promotional origin, shopska salad succeeded well enough to become genuinely and widely regarded as Bulgaria’s national salad within just a few decades.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shopska salad?

Shopska salad is a salad & side from Bulgaria: tomatoes, cucumbers, roasted peppers under snowy grated sirene. A simple salad of tomato, cucumber, onion and pepper, topped generously with grated white brined cheese called sirene, invented deliberately in the 1950s by Bulgarian state tourism authorities specifically to promote Bulgarian cuisine to visiting foreign tourists during the Communist era, making it, unlike most dishes with claimed folk origins, a documented and comparatively recent, purposeful creation rather than an old traditional recipe. Its name refers to the Shopi, an ethnic and regional group from the area around Sofia, though the salad was not necessarily a longstanding Shopi dish before being formally named and promoted. Despite its comparatively recent and deliberately promotional origin, shopska salad succeeded well enough to become genuinely and widely regarded as Bulgaria’s national salad within just a few decades.

How long does Shopska salad take to make?

Shopska salad takes 15 min of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Shopska salad?

Yes, within limits. Feta grated coarse is the usual substitute for sirene, though it is firmer and less tangy; drain it well and grate it from cold. Jarred roasted peppers are acceptable out of season — rinse off the brine and dry them first.

What is the most important thing to get right in Shopska salad?

Grate the sirene in a thick even blanket over the whole surface so the vegetables are completely hidden under white. Do not stir it in.