Spring radish & tomato salad – #CookForUkraine

Author Olia Hercules is working with #CookForUkraine to increase awareness of the humanitarian crisis the world faces right now, as well as raise the funds needed to aid children & families in Ukraine who have been displaced by the current situation. Please visit Cook For Ukraine to contribute. All proceeds will be directed to UNICEF UK’s Ukraine appeal.

My mum would start making this salad in April–May when the first cucumbers would come out. Prickly, gnarled, filling the air with an intense aroma, the smell of Ukrainian cucumbers freshly picked from our allotment will never leave me. The best part was dipping our bread into the remainder of the pastel pink soured cream dressing.

Serves 4

4 small cucumbers or 1 large

2 beef tomatoes

½ bunch of radishes, sliced

1 spring onion, sliced

½  bunch of dill, chopped

100ml (3½ fl oz) smetana or natural yogurt, diluted with ½ tablespoon water

sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

1. Slice the cucumbers and tomatoes over the bowl you will serve the salad in. You want to catch the tomato juices that will end up making the dressing so special.

2. Mix all the vegetables and dill together in the bowl. Season the smetana or yogurt really well with salt and pepper and stir through the salad. By the time you finish the salad there will be a delicious candy-floss pool of smetana or yogurt stained by tomato juices and radishes – mop it up with some bread.

This recipe is from Mamushka: Recipes from Ukraine and beyond by Olia Hercules

Please visit Cook For Ukraine to contribute.