my jerusalem kitchen

This salad comes from Cafe Mizrahi in the shuk and is known as the “Ya-Ya Salad.” I haven’t adapted anything in it because it’s simply perfect the way it is, and I can’t wait to share it with you. After I ordered it one day, I bought all the ingredients, went home and tried my hand at recreating it. It’s a healthy blend of crunchy beet and kohlrabi, combined with sweet dried cranberries, tomato and apple, and made slightly nutty by the pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Each bite comes together with the creaminess from the yogurt & tehina dressing. I hope you enjoy this small taste of Jerusalem!

Serves: 1-2

What you need:

1 beet root; peeled and chopped

1 kohlrabi; peeled and chopped

1 cucumber, 1 carrot, 1 apple; julienned

1/2 red onion; finely chopped

2 tblsp sunflower seeds

2 tblsp cranberries; dried

2 tblsp pumpkin seeds

5 cherry tomatoes

2 1/2 cups arugula, rocket leaves and baby leaf greens (you could use spinach)

1/2 juice from one lemon

oil for drizzling

salt & pepper to taste

4 tblsp plain yogurt & 2-3 tblsp tehina; combined

How to julienne in pictures (for those of us who didn’t go to culinary school):

If you’re not really a visual learner: take a carrot and cut it straight on two sides. Then place it on one side for a flat surface and begin cutting thin flaps from the top down. Stack them into a pile or cut in half and make two piles. Finely slice each piece lengthwise. Do the same thing to the beet, apple and kohlrabi.

Combine all the ingredients, add the lettuce, give it a toss with some oil, lemon, salt & pepper and then add the yogurt & tehina mixture.

Though it’s a meal on its own, I ate mine for lunch with zucchini kuku. Enjoy!