Oriental Salad

Romania is a Christian Orthodox country and many Romanians fast. There are two main periods of such religious observance: 6 weeks before Easter and 6 weeks before Christmas.  Plus almost all Wednesdays and Fridays of the year, except for those indicated in the Christian-Orthodox calendar. Fasting means refraining from any food of animal origin (meat, eggs, dairy, etc.) and alcohol.

For any Romanian or Christian-Orthodox cook, fasting requires lots of imagination in the kitchen. Our first recipe is the fasting/vegetarian version (rețetă de post) of a very popular dish in Romania: Oriental Salad (Salată Orientală). This salad is mainly cooked on Easter, as a side dish for the roast lamb.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

- 4 large potatoes

- 1 medium onion

- 4 cloves of garlic

- 1 red bell pepper

- 4 radishes

- 2 spoons of minced parsley

- 10 pitted black olives

- salt

- black pepper

- vegetable oil

- vinegar / aceto balsamico

Oriental Salad - The Kitchen Experience

1. Peel the potatoes, cut them into small pieces (1.5 cm x 1.5 cm) and boil them in water, until they are well cooked. Then drain the water and let them cool. 

2. Meanwhile, peel and chop the onion and the cloves of garlic, then the parsley, and the pepper.

3. Slice the radishes and the olives and add them to the salad.

4. Mix all the ingredients and add salt, black pepper, 3 spoons of vegetable oil, and 1 spoon of vinegar.

Oriental Salad - non-vegan version

Add hard boiled eggs (chopped and/or 2 spoonfuls of mayo). It is a great add-on to any steak and meat roll. Or you can just have it as such.

Enjoy!