Rena’s Chopped Salad

This salad is essentially based on a traditional Greek spring salad of lettuce, spring onion and dill, and is inspired by one I used to eat at my old favourite restaurant in
Athens, Rena Tis Ftelias. Rena is an exceptional cook who has written many cookbooks and was famous for her traditional Mediterranean cuisine, also appearing
frequently on Greek TV. She has since retired and her restaurant is sadly closed, but I remember her fondly every time I make this salad. I usually serve it at big
gatherings as it’s easy to scale up if necessary and is always a great hit! There is a lot of chopping involved, I won’t lie, but you will be rewarded with something delicious as well as super-healthy.

Serves 8 as a light lunch, or many more as part of a buffet

Ingredients

2 large ripe tomatoes, or the equivalent quantity in chopped cherry tomatoes
1 medium cucumber
3 celery stalks
1 large red pepper
1/2 fennel bulb
6 radishes
1/2 lettuce
Seeds of 1 pomegranate (or 1 small tub of ready-prepared seeds)
1 apple
200gr uncooked mung beans (or lentils)

Big handful of dill
Big handful of parsley
Whole bunch of spring onions
Juice of 1 large lemon
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil (I know this seems a lot, but please trust me on this one. In any case, extra virgin olive oil is practically medicine, and personally I’d rather eat it in a gorgeous salad than down it as a shot like some health-conscious people do lately.)
Salt & freshly-ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Firstly cook the mung beans. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil, then turn down the heat to medium and throw in the beans. Cook around 20 minutes until the beans are cooked but not mushy. Leave to cool before adding to the salad. While the mung beans are boiling, chop all the vegetables into small cubes and
place in the biggest mixing bowl you have. I leave the skin on the cucumber for texture and extra fibre (I just make sure to buy organic for that reason). Finely chop the herbs (the stems too) and add to the bowl. Add the pomegranate seeds and the cooled mung beans. At this stage you can keep the salad in the fridge until you are ready to serve it. When it’s time to serve, chop the apple (as with the cucumber, I don’t remove the skin) and mix it with the lemon juice (so that it doesn’t turn brown) before adding it with all the juice to the salad. Dress the salad with the oil, vinegar, salt & pepper, mixing everything thoroughly and tasting to adjust the dressing to your taste. Decant to a large serving bowl. I like to serve this salad like Rena used to do, accompanied by thick slices of sourdough bread topped with a glug of olive oil and a liberal sprinkling of oregano, then charred on a barbeque or roasted in the oven till crisp.

Note: You could certainly use canned beans, lentils or chickpeas for convenience, but they won’t be as flavourful.

JOHANNA GOYAL