Easy Green Salad Recipe with Sweet and Sour Dressing

Hello everyone, I am Sumaira. Today I am making my Green Salad in a very simple and easy way — and the dressing I put on it is made with a few secret ingredients that make all the difference.

This is the salad that goes with everything on our desi (Indian & Pakistani) table — lunch, dinner, or a barbecue. It is colourful, crisp, and a little sweet and a little sour at the same time. The green apple is my favourite part. It tastes great in salads, and people always ask what that fresh, sweet bite is.

Everything is step by step below, with pictures from my video. If you want to see any step being done, tap the watch link under the picture and the video will open at that exact moment.

Ingredients

The full list with exact quantities is in the recipe card at the bottom. For the salad you need lettuce, bell peppers in three colours, cucumber, cabbage, carrots, a green apple, tomatoes, onion and fresh coriander (cilantro). The dressing is olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and a few things from the spice shelf — dried oregano and red pepper flakes are in every regular grocery store, in the spice aisle.

How to Make Green Salad

Chop the lettuce and peppers. Take half a bunch of lettuce and chop it — you can also use salad leaves. Then take yellow, green and red bell peppers (capsicum) and cut half a pepper of each colour lengthwise, in strips.

Cucumber, cabbage, carrots and apple. Take 1 cucumber and chop it the same way. Take a little cabbage and chop it too. Take 2 carrots and cut them finely. Then take 1 green apple and chop it like the rest — it tastes great in salads.

Tomatoes, onion and coriander. Take 2 tomatoes and cut them into slices, and take out their seeds — this keeps the salad from going watery. Take half an onion, chop it, and separate the layers. Take a little fresh coriander and cut it finely. All our vegetables are chopped.

Make the sweet and sour dressing. Take a cup or a bowl. Add 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons white vinegar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon dried oregano and 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (chilli flakes). Mix all these ingredients well. Our sweet and sour sauce is ready. If you do not have white vinegar, apple cider vinegar works in the same quantity.

Dress and toss. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix it well. You can adjust the quantity of vegetables as you like, or add whatever you have available — this salad is forgiving.

Serve. Take the salad out into a nice bowl — for me, the serving is part of the recipe. Serve it with lunch, dinner or barbecue. At our table it goes beautifully with rich dishes like my Chikar Cholay, because the fresh, sour bite cuts through the masala.

You must try it too. If you make it, tell me in the comments how it came out. Remember me in your prayers.

Sumaira

Easy Green Salad with Sweet and Sour Dressing

A crisp, colourful green salad — lettuce, three-colour bell peppers, cucumber, cabbage, carrots and a green apple — tossed in Sumaira's simple sweet and sour olive oil dressing. The side that goes with everything.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 0 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Servings: 4

Course: Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: Pakistani

Calories: 270

Ingredients Method Video Notes

Ingredients

  

For the salad:

• 1/2 bunch lettuce chopped (or salad leaves)
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper cut lengthwise in strips
• 1/2 green bell pepper cut lengthwise in strips
• 1/2 red bell pepper cut lengthwise in strips
• 1 cucumber chopped
• A little cabbage chopped
• 2 carrots cut finely
• 1 green apple chopped
• 2 tomatoes sliced, seeds removed
• 1/2 onion chopped, layers separated
• A little fresh coriander (cilantro) finely chopped

For the sweet and sour dressing:

• 1/3 cup olive oil (80 ml)
• 2 tbsp white vinegar (apple cider vinegar works too)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (chilli flakes)

Method

 

1. Chop the lettuce (or use salad leaves). Cut half a bell pepper of each colour — yellow, green and red — lengthwise into strips.
   
2. Chop the cucumber. Chop a little cabbage. Cut the carrots finely. Chop the green apple.
   
3. Slice the tomatoes and take out the seeds. Chop the half onion and separate the layers. Chop a little fresh coriander finely.
   
4. Make the dressing: in a cup or bowl, mix the olive oil, white vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, salt, ground black pepper, dried oregano and red pepper flakes well.
   
5. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss everything together well.
   
6. Dish out into a serving bowl. Serve with lunch, dinner or barbecue.

Video

Notes

Take the seeds out of the tomatoes — it keeps the salad from going watery.

Adjust the vegetables as you like, or use what you have available — the dressing is the recipe.

Dress the salad just before serving so it stays crisp.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving): about 270 calories, 2g protein, 19g fat (3g saturated), 22g carbs, 5g fibre, 12g sugar, ~570mg sodium, 0 cholesterol. Calculated from the ingredients used — home cooking varies a little.

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