There are a few common varieties of Ethiopian salads, or salatas. There is tomato salad (Timatim salata) and green lentil salad (Azifa). Today’s recipe is for green salad. The lettuce used to prepare Ethiopian green, or savory, salad is romaine. This is the type I saw used in Ethiopia and it is the type I use.
In Ethiopia, salads are usually prepared during what we call fasting days, such as Lent, Wednesdays and Fridays (which are also fasting days). Savories are served alongside other vegan dishes such as lentil and yellow split pea stews.
In Ethiopian restaurants, I’ve noticed that green salad comes with almost every meal, whether you order a meat or vegetable dish (just like some Italian or Mediterranean restaurants that serve a salad before every meal). The only difference in Ethiopian restaurants is usually that the salad is served on the same plate next to the other dishes on top of the injera.
At home I usually cook Ethiopian dishes on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and choose a vegetarian dish to go with our protein. For example, this week I might cook a green bean and carrot dish, the next week a kale dish, the next Ethiopian green salad, and so on. Ethiopian green salad is my youngest son’s favorite vegetarian side dish. Love the lemony flavor of the dressing.
This simple green salad is common in Ethiopia – and probably one of the reasons it’s so common is because it’s so simple to prepare. Even though it’s an easy recipe to follow, I’ve already made mistakes! There was a time when I added a little too much garlic and it overpowered the salad. This is why I invite the readers below to start with just a small part.
Also, I mixed all the salad dressing ingredients together at once. Now, to make the salad dressing, I start by squeezing the juice from the lemon into a bowl, then slowly add the oil while whisking, then mix in the other components of the dressing. This way, the salad dressing will look very smooth, attractive and delicious
