Tomato, Cucumber, and Radish Salad with Yogurt-Tahini Dressing

This Tomato, Cucumber, and Radish Salad with Yogurt-Tahini Dressing has amazing flavor! And this delicious salad is low-carb, gluten-free, meatless, and South Beach Diet Phase One. Use Salad Recipes to find more recipes like this one.

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There must be thousands of variations of tomato and cucumber salad in the world, but when I was in Chicago attending the 2009 BlogHer Conference, I had a tomato and cucumber salad that really knocked my socks off. I was on the way to The Spice House with my blogging friend Lydia, and we stopped in at Old Jerusalem Restaurant for a quick lunch.

Lydia and I both have middle-eastern tastebuds, and we loved this unpretentious restaurant, with me especially swooning over the Jerusalem Salad with a yogurt and tahini dressing.I was determined to recreate the flavors from that dressing, and although when I found their website I realized my salad was a bit different, I loved this Tomato, Cucumber, and Radish Salad with Yogurt and Tahini Dressing I came up with.

I sometimes get e-mail from people urging me to just use “ordinary” ingredients on the blog, and this recipe isn’t one that will make you happy if you’re that kind of cook because it has tahini paste, Sumac, Aleppo pepper, and Greek yogurt, all of which are unusual ingredients. Of course, the blog has to be what I’m eating, and I love interesting recipes that are still diet-friendly, but if you don’t want to look for ingredients, check after the recipe for some other lovely salads featuring cucumbers and tomatoes. If you have a favorite salad recipe that features tomatoes and cucumbers, please tell us about it in the comments!

Start by dicing the cucumbers and placing in a colander in the sink, then add a generous amount of salt (about 1 tsp.) Let the cucumbers sweat out the water and drain while you prep other ingredients. Most of the salt gets washed away in this process, but taste the salad before you add more salt. Next mix the Greek yogurt, tahini paste, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. cumin, garlic, and Aleppo pepper or cayenne. Taste and see if you want to add more cumin or a pinch of salt, then let the ingredients hang out together while you chop cucumbers and radishes. I would have definitely used diced whole tomatoes from the garden if I had them (not yet!) but I used these grape tomatoes from Costco, which I love for salads.

The salad at Old Jerusalem Restaurant didn’t have radishes, but I thought they would add a nice kick to it, plus I love radishes, especially when they’re cut into half-moon shapes like this. I used more cucumbers than tomatoes or radishes because that’s what I happened to have, but I think you can change the proportions here, or leave out the radishes completely if you don’t happen to have any. Mix in the desired amount of

I’m guessing there are also lots of other salads that would work well with this dressing. If anyone tries it on something else, I’d love to hear about it!

Make it a Meal: 

This is a great side dish for any type of grilled meat, especially something like Kubideh (ground meat kabobs) or Souvlaki. For a vegetarian option, serve this with Baked Falafel Patties and use the extra dressing as a sauce for the falafel.

More Salads with Tomatoes and Cucumbers:

Vegan Tomato Salad with Cucumber, Avocado, Cilantro, and Lime from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Tomato Cucumber Salad from No Recipes
Middle Eastern Tomato Salad from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Tomato and Cucumber Salad from Dianne’s Dishes
American Greek Salad from Kalyn’s Kitchen

Want More Summer Tomato Salads?

Check out Ten Favorite Summer Tomato Salads (plus Honorable Mentions) for more amazing salad ideas for summer tomatoes!

Print Recipe

Tomato, Cucumber, and Radish Salad with Yogurt-Tahini Dressing and Sumac

Yield: 2 servings

Total Time: 35 minutes

Prep Time: 35 minutes

Tomato, Cucumber, and Radish Salad with Yogurt-Tahini Dressing is perfect in the summer.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chopped cucumber (about 2 small cucumbers, cut into pieces about 3/4 inch)
• 1 cup chopped tomato (cut into pieces about 3/4 inch if using whole tomatoes)
• 1 cup chopped radishes (cut into half-moon slices)
  (Any proportion of cucumber, tomato, and radishes can be used, or use just cucumber and tomato if you don’t have any radishes)
• 1 tsp. salt (for salting cucumbers) plus more to taste
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup tahini paste, also called tahina (See notes; this can be hard to find, but almond butter or natural peanut butter would be a pretty good substitute, especially with a little sesame oil added.)
• 2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice (see notes)
• 1/2 – 1 tsp. ground cumin (start with 1/2 tsp. and taste)
• 1/2 tsp. finely minced garlic
• 2-3 pinches Aleppo pepper or cayenne pepper (see notes)
• ground Sumac (optional, for sprinkling on salad)

Directions:

1. Wash cucumbers and peel if desired. (If you can get fresh garden cucumbers, they don’t have to be peeled.)
2. Cut cucumbers into same-size pieces about 3/4 inch.
3. Place in a colander sitting in the sink.
4. Sprinkle with about 1 tsp. salt, mix with your hand so all the cucumber pieces are salted.
5. Let cucumbers stand and release water while you prep other ingredients, or if you have time, let cucumbers drain in the sink for 20-30 minutes. (The salad will be more watery if you skip this salting step, but if you’re eating it right away it probably doesn’t matter too much.
6. While cucumbers drain, put Greek yogurt, tahini paste, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. ground cumin, minced garlic, and Aleppo pepper in a small bowl or measuring cup and mix together. (I found a fork worked best for mixing.)
7. Taste and see if you want to add more ground cumin or a pinch of salt, then set aside to let ingredients blend.
8. Wash tomatoes and cut in half (if using cherry tomatoes) or cut into 3/4 inch pieces (if using whole tomatoes.)
9. Wash radishes, cut off stem and root ends, then cut in half and slice into half moon pieces.
10.  Blot cucumbers dry with a paper towel (most of the salt will have rinsed off if you’ve drained them long enough.)
11.  Combine cucumbers, tomatoes, and radishes in a bowl.
12.  Stir in enough dressing to moisten (I used about half the dressing, save the rest in the fridge for another salad.)
13.  Sprinkle salad with Sumac if desired.
14.  Serve immediately.

Notes:

Here’s more about tahini paste, also called tahina. Here is more about Aleppo pepper. Here is more about Sumac. I used fresh frozen lemon juice for this recipe.

Recipe inspired by Jerusalem Salad at Old Jerusalem Restaurant in Chicago.

All images and text ©Kalyn Denny for Kalyn's Kitchen.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Tomato, Cucumber, and Radish Salad with Yogurt-Tahini Dressing is a great choice for most any low-carb or low-glycemic diet plan. If made with low-fat or fat-free Greek yogurt, this could be a great choice for any phase of the South Beach Diet. The tomatoes have the most carbs here, so you could use even less tomatoes if you prefer.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You can also Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Nutritional Information?
If you want nutritional information for a recipe, you can sign up for a free membership with Yummly and use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information. Another option is entering the recipe into this Recipe Nutrition Analyzer, which will calculate it for you.