Mevsim Salad

An absolute favourite with Turks, in this salad presentation is everything. The aim is to juxtapose the brightly coloured produce to best effect so that the salad is as much a feast for the eyes as for the stomach. Home-prepared salads might simply mix the ingredients all together, but confident cooks will group the ingredients together for maximum colour impact.

Mevsim Salad

Mevsim Salata

handful finely sliced red cabbage

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp lemon juice

¼ iceburg or cos lettuce (marul), thinly sliced

½ carrot, grated

¼ cup corn kernels, cooked, cooled

1/2 cucumber, sliced on the diagonal

Few cherry tomatoes, halved

Sml sprig rocket or flat-leaf parsley , optional

1. To prepare the red cabbage, toss the salt and lemon through the cabbage and allow to sit in a bowl while you prepare the other ingredients.

2. Get out your serving bowl. Place the shredded iceberg lettuce in the middle of the bowl. Cover 1/3 of the lettuce with the grated carrot, 1/3 with the corn kernals, and 1/3 with the prepared red cabbage, as in the photo above.

3. Around the edge, alternate cucumber slices with a cherry tomato half to create a border (as in the photo above). Place a sprig of rocket or parsley in the middle, and serve.

4. Serve with olive oil and lemon juice or pomegranate molasses on the side.

SERVES: 2-4 as a side