Salads are not just meant to be eaten when on a diet. They can be had as a full meal too. And honestly, not all salads are boring and tasteless. So, here are the 14 most popular salads around the world that are more than just lettuce.
22 Popular Salads Around The World
1. Caprese Salad
It is an Italian Salad prepared with mozzarella, tomatoes, and sweet basil. The green, white, and red color in the salad actually feature the color of the Italian flag. The name of the salad comes from the Island of Capri where it originated. The original Caprese salad recipe also does not call for balsamic or any other form of vinegar, as opposed to common belief.
2. Cobb Salad
It is an invention of a chef named Robert Cobb, thereby the name. Robert owned The Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles. He, using the leftover ingredients in the kitchen, created a salad consisting of chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, avocado, bacon, salad greens, and Roquefort cheese. The restaurant now stands closed but the tradition of Cobb Salad still prevails as a staple part of the American cuisine.
3. Greek Salad
Greek salad, one of the popular salads and also known as horiatiki in Greece, is a national dish whose ingredients are feta cheese, tomatoes, red onions, and cucumber slices. It was a rural recipe since farmers took some raw ingredients to the field and mixed them together. It is served in a small bowl and is present on various Greek tables. It even tastes great with grilled barbecued meat.
4. Olivier Salad
Lucien Olivier, a chef at a renowned Moscow restaurant called L’Hermitage, created the salad in the 1860s. Olivier kept the recipe a secret until he died but an employee is suspected to have robbed the recipe. Olivier salad was historically called mayonnaise game bird, made with gourmet ingredients such as black caviar, capers, duck, and crayfish. The essential ingredients are diced potatoes, tomatoes, bacon, chicken, or ham. This dish is one of the most popular appetizers on Russia’s New Year’s food buffets.
5. Caesar Salad
The name comes from Caesar Cardini, who owned a restaurant in Mexico. On one busy weekend, Cardini runs low on food, and therefore, creates a salad with whatever was leftover in the kitchen. To not disappoint the customers and also to entertain them, he prepared the salad tableside. Even today, the Caesar salad is prepared tableside, tossing the lettuce, eggs, parmesan cheese, and Worcestershire sauce.
6. Tabbouleh
Tabbouleh is the national dish of Lebanon made from chopped parsley leaves, olive oil, bulgur wheat, onions, tomatoes, and fresh mint. This evolved from the mountains of Lebanon and Syria, where the Arabs cooked edible herbs in a tabbouleh. The soothing flavors and the bulgur wheat offer a rich source of fibre and calcium making tabbouleh healthy. Tabbouleh is really widely known and therefore it also has its own day, celebrated on the first Saturday of July each year.
7. Fattoush
Fattoush is a salad made from traditional pita bread. Pita bread is broken into small bits, then toasted, grilled, or fried. This is then mixed with a range of vegetables. The main ingredient in the salad is sumac, which is a spice that is widely used in the Levantine region. It is among the most widely consumed salads in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq. The salad belongs to a category of dishes popularly named fattat, whose key ingredient the stale pita, or any other flat-bread.
8. Gado – Gado
Gado-Gado is an Indonesian variant of a mixed salad. It is typically made up of several fruits, eggs, tempeh, and tofu. Usually, the vegetables are just partially cooked, mixed with a nutty sauce, and finished by adding crispy prawn crackers. The dish is a true symbol of street food in Indonesia that has been prevalent in the Indonesian culture since the 16th century. It originated from Jakarta’s native people but can be seen in any region of Indonesia today.
9. Fiambre
Fiambre is a unique large salad that was prepared on All Saints’ Day. It hails from Guatemala and is its most popular dish. The salad can be made large including as much as 50 ingredients into it. It has vegetables, meat, eggs, and even pickles. It is famously served in the memory of someone beloved who is now dead. There are many variants to this salad, depending on the key ingredients.
10. Larb
The main two bases of this salad are the meat of any kind and a souring ingredient. This base is wrapped in lettuce and then consumed. The salad is garnished with Khao khoua, which is grounded rice that is toasted. It is said that this was first invented in Yunnan, China, but is now more popular in the Lao cuisine. Therefore, it is called the unofficial dish of Laos. The salad mostly has sticky rice or cucumber as a side.
11. Dressed Herring
It is one of the most unique and popular salads. Herring is a Russian salad that is layered. There are usually three distinctive layers; herring, potatoes, and beetroot. More layers can be added with apples, eggs, and onions. The color red that comes from the beetroot signifies the red flag. When potatoes are used, it signifies the staple food of farmers and laborers. It is a popular dish served as zakuski at New Year and Christmas.
12. Panzanella
A popular summer salad, Panzanella is an Italian salad. It contains moistened bread, tomatoes, olives, and onions. Pane means bread and zanella means soup bowl. It was invented using unwanted ingredients such as stale bread. Bronzino is a poet who first described the salad in his poem. Until the 20th century, the salad was based only on onions which are evident in Bronzino’s poem praising the onions with oil served with toast.
13. Israeli Salad
It’s potentially Israel’s best known national dish. Usually prepared with olive oil and lemon juice are finely diced tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, parsley, and either bell peppers or chili peppers. This pleasant salad is consumed as a main or a side dish and is also sold as a street food snack, wrapped in falafel or shawarma pita bread. It is very important in an Israeli breakfast.
14. Kosambari
Kosambari is Karnataka’s most popular salad. The salad is made with split legumes such as Bengal gram and green gram and flavoured with mustard seeds in addition. It is well recognized for its simplicity of preparation and its high protein count. At most festivities, and celebrations it is traditional as an appetizer, while in most temples it is offered as a religious offering. Kosambari is also additionally seasoned with slices of cucumber or rice, and while typically eaten as an appetizer, it is often a balanced main meal or a snack.
15. Classic chef salad
The origin of this salad dates back to the roman rule, where people used to consume what was available to them, like vegetables, nuts, fruits, and greens. Later, the salad incorporated meats and cheeses. It’s a classic because it includes greens, with assorted meats and cheese, and can be adjusted according to varying preferences. The dressing consists of vinaigrette.
16. Ambrosia salad
Ambrosia, as the name suggests, is the food of Greek gods. Aptly, it is a heavenly assortment of fruits like pineapples and mandarins, marshmallows, cool whip and shredded coconut. It is unlike any other salad as it feels more of a dessert with canned or fresh fruits. It is a staple during the holiday season.
17. Italian salad
It is a simple and quick assortment of crisp lettuce, tomatoes, olives, pepperoncini, onions along with some cheese and croutons. The USP of the Italian salad is the dressing, loaded with fresh herbs and vinaigrette. It is the perfect side salad to your roasted chicken or pasta!
18. Nicoise salad
This salad originated in the city Nice in France, hence the name ‘Nicoise.’ The ingredients include hard-boiled eggs, olives, tomatoes, green beans, and tuna as opposed to the common meats. It is commonly called summer nicoise salad, Gordon Ramsay believes that it must be the finest summer salad of all.
19. Southwest salad
This is one loaded salad! It has black beans, tomatoes, lettuce, corn, cilantro and an avocado dressing. It is quick and effortless; absolutely perfect for lunch.
20. Waldorf salad
This salad was invented in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, NYC in 1896. The original recipe consisted of just three ingredients – apples, celery, and mayonnaise. Later it was modified with more ingredients like fresh walnuts, grapes, raisins, and lettuce. It is a crunchy treat with toasted nuts and the sweetness of some additional whipped cream or yogurt.
21. Wedge salad
A refreshing salad on a wedge i.e. one quarter head of iceberg lettuce, topped with blue cheese, onions, tomatoes, and bacon. It is an amazing side dish to any meal with its rich, creamy and cooling flavours. The large base of lettuce requires contrasting small toppings of vegetables and bacon.
22. Crab Louie salad
Saving the best for last, this right here is the “king of salads.” With an American origin, it is said to be created by entrepreneur Louie Davenport from Washington. The main ingredient is crab meat, preferably Dungeness crab, with some tomatoes, cucumber, boiled eggs, and asparagus on a bed of lettuce. The dressing consists of flavorful mayonnaise. It can be served chilled.
Ending this article about popular salads with a salad joke. We don’t have any vegetable jokes yet, so if you do lettuce know!
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