Kachumbari Salad Recipe

Kachumbari is an African salad. The name kachumbari originated from Indian cuisine which is a salad made from chopped tomato, onion cucumber. This salad is popular all over Africa.

Ingredients

• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 medium cucumber, chopped
• 1/2 medium yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Instructions

1. Start by cleaning up all the utensils that are to be used and dry them with a dry dishtowel.
2. Clean all the vegetables and place them in a colander. This makes it easy to prepare the salad because there will be fewer distractions, and the possibility of forgetting to clean the vegetables is countered.
3. Chop the onions on the chopping board. The best way to chop the onion to prepare the kachumbari salad is in a diced form. This is because it is easy to mix the onions with the rest of the ingredients this way. However, you can also slice it into rings if you prefer
4. Put the chopped onions in the bowl of water. Often, onion has an irritating gas, sulfur-oxides, that is produced when chopped. When you put them in water, part of the gas is dissolved part of it and make it easy to consume. This does not affect the crunchy nature and the taste of onions. Put the bowl of onions aside for 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Now it is time for the ripe tomatoes and cucumber. For uniformity and ease in the mixing, also dice them.
6. As for the cilantro, the essential part is the leaves. You destem the stalks and put the leaves in one bowl. Cilantro is important because of its health benefits and flavour.
7. Dice the bell pepper as well. You can use different colours of bell pepper to increase the nutrition value, and improve the kachumbari taste. However, when it is cut, there are parts of it that are not used, which includes the seeds and white parts of the pepper.
8. Finally, when everything has been chopped, it is time to mix it. Place the diced tomatoes into a bowl. Remove the onions from the water, and add them to the bowl containing tomatoes. Mix the two ingredients gently and completely.
9. In the very same bowl, add the teaspoon of salt, and mix again.
10. Add the chopped bell pepper to the bowl and mix well.
11. Add 1/2 of the fresh lemon juice to the kachumbari is to ensure it does not go bad very fast. The kachumbari is ready to serve along with the rest of the food.

Source: healthiersteps.com

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