Kachumber

Kachumber, a delicious and utterly simple Indian tomato-onion salad, adds a zing to dals, curries and rice dishes!

In this tasty kachumber, tomatoes and onions are tossed together with a simple and oil-free dressing of lemon or vinegar, salt, spicy chili peppers and fresh herbs like cilantro or mint. You can add more vegetables, like cucumbers or zucchini or bell peppers or avocados, as well. The resulting salad is tasty as can be and it does perfect justice to any Indian main dish you serve it with.

This recipe concludes a classic trio of Indian Parsi dishes I've been sharing with you, including Vegetable Dhansak and Parsi Brown Rice.

I hope you will try these and be transported, for a few minutes, to a Parsi dinner table where the food is always king.

What is Kachumber?

A Kachumber, pronounced kutch-oom-ber, is a very simple, everyday Indian salad, often made with onions and tomatoes and, sometimes, other raw veggies like cucumber. It is not exclusively a Parsi recipe and is common to most Indian cuisines. A kachumbar, also called a kachumbari or koshimbir, is usually served at a meal alongside other sides like pickles and poppadum.

You can think of this simple Indian salad recipe as a more rudimentary version of a raita, minus the yogurt, and you can simply convert it to a raita by dressing it with yogurt instead of lemon. At its very basic a Kachumber bears a close resemblance to a Mexican dip or salsa like pico de gallo.

Why you'll love this Kachumber Salad Recipe

• It's delicious. Albeit extremely simple, a Kachumber can provide the transformational zing to just about any simple Indian meal. This crunchy salad tantalizes your tastebuds and makes everything taste better.
• It's so easy to make. As you will see in the video it doesn't take much work to make a Kachumber. Chop up a few veggies and you are done, no cooking needed.
• It's versatile. At its very basic a Kachumber needs just onions and tomatoes along with the lemon, salt and chile. However, you can make variations by add more veggies to it. I often add cucumber, zucchini, finely chopped bell peppers or avocado. You can use any veggie that can be eaten raw, but not a leafy. Veggies like radish will add a nice crunch, avocados will add a mellow delicious flavor to balance out the chili pepper. If you use carrots or cabbage grate them or chop them really fine.
• It's healthy. It's a salad, so, of course it's healthy. But it is also naturally free of added fats because you don't need any oil in the dressing. You can even skip the salt--the lemon, cilantro and chili make it so vibrant, you don't really need any.
• It's everyone friendly. The salad is naturally vegan, gluten-free, nut-free and soy-free.

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion. You can use a sweet red onion or a yellow or white onion. A more pungent variety of onion is fine if you can tolerate the heat.
• 2 medium tomatoes. Make sure they are perfectly ripe.
• ½ large or 1 small zucchini. You can sub this with an avocado or a cucumber or a bell pepper or 4-5 small radishes.
• 1 small or medium jalapeno pepper. Or any green chili pepper. You need about 1 tbsp, minced. Use less if sensitive to heat.
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro (coriander leaves). Fresh mint leaves are a fine substitute.
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Or lime juice. You can also use a tablespoon or two of vinegar instead.
• Salt to taste

How to make Kachumber

• Chop all veggies to roughly the same size--a small dice is preferable. You should have roughly a cup of onions, a cup of tomatoes and a cup of zucchini, although it doesn't really matter if you go over or under with one.
• Add all vegetables to a bowl followed by the minced jalapeno, cilantro, lemon juice and salt.
• Toss well to mix. Let the Kachumber stand 10 minutes for the flavors to marry, then serve.

Watch how to make Kachumber

What to serve the kachumber with

• The Kachumber is perfect with Dhansak and Brown Rice.
• You can serve it with almost any Indian meal. It is delicious with a simple dal, like this Dal Tadka or this Rajasthani Panchmel Dal or just about any dal.
• A kachumber is also lovely with a biryani like this Vegetable Biryani or this Dum Aloo Biryani, or with pulao rice like this Soya Pulao or Navratan Pulao or this Vegetable Tehri.
• You can also use the kachumber to top burgers or roll into wraps, like this Vegetable Frankie. Or scoop it up with chips!

Storage and freezing instructions

• Kachumber should ideally be made fresh but leftovers can be stored in the fridge for a day or two. If using avocado, however, it is best to use it up the same day as the avocado can discolor. This can be avoided by dousing it with the lemon juice right after cutting and adding the avocado to the bowl but it is not foolproof.

More salad recipes you might like

• Chickpea Avocado Salad
• Sprouted Moong Salad
• Grilled Corn Salad
• Vegan Potato Salad with Turmeric and Green Peas
• Vegan Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad