Cucumber, Yogurt, and Golden California Raisins Salad
Persian Mast-o Khiar inspired. A recipe in partnership with CA Grown.
I'm a big fan of convenience in the kitchen. If a recipe easily and successfully makes for a complete lunch salad, turns into a late-afternoon decadent sandwich, or even better, as an elegant dip for a dinner table surrounded by friends (and a couple of drinks), rest assured it will become one of my favorites.
When I was in English as a Second Language School in Massachusetts, a couple of years ago, our Reading & Writing teacher — the remarkable Cathy, had us read a brilliant book called Funny in Farsi. Written by Firoozeh Dumas, it's a humorous memoir recounting stories about her childhood in Iran and her adolescent and adult life in her adopted country, the US. It's such a great book. I'd recommend it even if you don't need to learn English.
Being so relatable to many of us in the classroom, we enjoyed the reading tremendously. By the end of the semester, Cathy let us pick which book was our favorite (we'd read four to eight books every month) and organized a themed party to celebrate one more semester of surviving through English-learning baby steps, plus the acquisition of new vocabulary.
Students had the task of bringing something Iranian/Persian to the party. Some were responsible for decoration; some would make a playlist. To no one's surprise, I jumped out of my chair as Cathy delegated tasks, eagerly raising my hand to announce I'd like to bring food.
I had no clue in which direction Iranian/Persian food went. I had a good idea about flavor combinations, but absolutely no recipes. The perk of being an overachiever in school is that you'll always come up with something fantastic. The downside is that, in order to come up with something fantastic, you'll be declared insane by the people you might share a house with at least five times the week you're supposed to come up with that fantastic thing. Poor Doug.
Of course, I couldn't just buy an Iranian cookbook and call it a day. I had to dig deeper. I wanted a recipe that truly captured the taste of Iran. I wanted that meal to be unique, and for that, I needed to find someone from Iran to help me with that project.
I casually started asking around in my neighborhood where people were from, avoiding at all costs to sound rude. Doug made sure, uncountable times, to tell me to try and not to be creepy (I'm not sure I've achieved it). But the search was quicker than I expected, as my lovely downstairs neighbor Linda came to the rescue on the very next day with a phone number written on a post-it.
Her name was Dana. Linda knew her from the library. Dana had also just moved to the US and barely spoke any English. I had hit the jackpot!
I texted Dana, knowing none of us would feel comfortable talking over the phone. And what sense does it make if you can't really understand each other? We were smart enough to stick to the written words. I wrote her the whole story, as succinctly as possible, emphasizing I needed a recipe that traveled well, as it would sit in the classroom for a good chunk of time before the opening-the-tupperware grand reveal.
In no time, she texted me back something like this:
Cucumber
raisins
yogurt
olive oil
salt
mint
rose petals.
Mix it.
No measurements, no tips on how to make it. Just straight-up a recipe, pretty much like the ones my immigrant grandma in the past might have written. The only certainty I had was that this would be exquisite.
I thanked Dana from the bottom of my heart, and we promised to meet at the library for more recipe exchanges in the future. I typed Cucumber raisins yogurt olive oil salt mint rose petals Persian recipe in the search bar to be gifted with an infinity of recipes for Mast-o Khiar, and I soon learned that it's a pretty popular Persian dish.
On the printed recipe, I tweaked a few things. Then did all my mise-en-place the night before and woke up earlier than usual to happily whip up my salad/dip. I traveled to school with a backpack filled with books and a giant bowl of yogurt things. I also packed a little salt container to only season the salad right before serving, as well as a stack of freshly baked pita bread wrapped in foil, and bottomless plastic cutlery.
After hours and hours of lectures and exercises and chatting, sips of watery coffee and salad babysitting, I opened that bowl lid. I had hoped during the whole day that the salad was still good. Or at least good enough. Nothing would make Dana more disappointed than a poor dish. I say Dana, but in reality, it was me.
To my contentment (and peace of mind, at last), the salad/dip was perfect. Smelled fresh and refreshing. The veggies were still crunchy, and the yogurt was rich and creamy. Those glorious raisins plumped up while swimming in that pool of deliciousness. No one in that classroom was satisfied with only one serving.
While I cleaned up the table, so pleased with myself for the lack of leftovers, my adorable teacher Cathy approached to say that she thought this recipe was simply a fantastic thing. I guess Dana would love to hear this compliment, too, in English.
I'm so pleased to share with you, in partnership with California Grown, this recipe that brings me such great memories from my time in school.
California Raisins, the ingredient I'm proud to feature here, has a long history, dating back to the late 1800s. Nowadays, on approximately 150,000 acres, over 2,000 California Raisin growers produce 100% of the U.S. raisins in an area within a 60-mile radius of Fresno, California – known as the central San Joaquin Valley.
Did you know that California is the largest raisin producer in the world, accounting for more than half of the global supply?
I grew up loving raisins as they're super popular in Brazil due to their versatility for sweet and savory dishes. No Brazilian table is complete without a dish sprinkled with raisins around the holidays, a scoop of rum & raisins ice cream as an afternoon treat, or without the sweet scent of raisins-speckled Panettone, a sweet Italian bread as popular as it gets due to the huge influence of Italian immigrants in Brazilian cooking/eating.
How about Brazilian Raisin Rice?
I recently learned to love raisins even more in France, where they're omnipresent in pastry shops, in pastries such as Pain aux Raisin, the famous escargot-shaped puff-pastry swirls filled with vanilla pastry cream and raisins. Or as a thickening agent for luscious grape-flavored sauces that are generously ladled out on pieces of perfectly cooked chicken. The French do know how to transform raisins into even better things!
I have never cooked with raisins as often as I do now (and I hope you'll do, too). Raisins make me curious about ways of exploring their delicate yet affirmative flavor. After having my kitchen cabinets filled with them for years, I only recently came to learn that they're one of the oldest dried fruits in the world, which made me even more curious. They were first produced in Persia (modern-day Iran) around 2000 BC. If that isn't a sign for you to make my recipe, I don't know what else could be.
Merci,
J
Recipe
Cucumber, Yogurt, and Golden California Raisins Salad
Plump and bursting-with-sweetness California Golden Raisins are the star of the show in this creamy salad inspired by Persian Mast-o Khiar (Persian Cucumber and Herb Yogurt). Zesty cucumber and celery are thinly sliced and coated in rich Greek yogurt, then California walnuts are added for a textural surprise.
This salad is seasoned with plenty of fresh mint, making it a light and refreshing complement to grilled fish or oven-roasted chicken thighs. It's also delicious as a filling for a pita sandwich with thick slices of tomato. If you want to turn it into an appetizer, add a touch more yogurt for creaminess and serve it as a dip alongside pita crackers. If you plan to make it ahead for a potluck, instead of potato salad, for example, season it with salt only right before serving to avoid losing the crunchiness of the vegetables.
Ingredients marked with an asterisk are also from California.
Ingredients
Makes 4 servings
1 cup Golden California Raisins
1 large English cucumber*, seeded and thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
1 medium celery stalk*, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
½ clove of garlic
1 cup plain Greek yogurt, preferably full-fat
½ cup raw walnuts*, roughly chopped
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint* + more to serve
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil*, to drizzle before serving
½ cup pomegranate seeds* to serve (optional)
How to make it:
Add 2 cups of thinly sliced cucumber and 1 cup of thinly sliced celery to a large mixing bowl. Use a mandoline for more uniform slices, if desired. Use a teaspoon to scoop out the cucumber seeds before slicing.
To the vegetables, add 1 cup of Golden California Raisins. If the raisins have been sitting in the cabinet for a bit and seem a bit sad, soak them in warm water for about 3 minutes to plump, then drain by squeezing them between your palms.
Grate the garlic clove directly on the mixture, then add 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar and 1 tsp of fine sea salt.
Pour over the Greek yogurt and toss well to coat.
Add the walnut pieces and the finely chopped fresh mint and give it another good stir.
Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
To serve, transfer the salad to a platter, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle the pomegranate seeds on top, and garnish the plate with a small bouquet of fresh mint leaves.
Keeps well in the fridge for 2 days in a sealed container.
Bon appétit!
YAY! I already know when I am going to serve this, Jaine! (The pomegranate seeds are a beautiful touch, too.)
Hope you and Doug are well...enjoying the CA springtime...it's already so hot here in TX....
Great post. I taught ESL in Connecticut many years ago and can relate to your story, as my students and I would gather every semester to enjoy a pot luck meal together. Varied cultures make for delicious eating. And I adore raisins, although they’re a controversial dried fruit, much like prunes. Actually, I love all dried fruit and will definitely make this yogurt based recipe. Thank you!