Easy Turkish Sumac Onions Recipe (Turkish Onion Salad) (2024)

FAQs

What are sumac onions? ›

Sumac onions, also known as Turkish onions, are thinly sliced onions that are mixed with sumac and parsley and then pickled in lemon juice with a hint of oil. It is an extremely easy dish to make and is commonly used to accompany main protein dishes. Sumac is made by grinding down the dried berries of a sumac plant.

Red Onions: The salad onion. While you can cook with it, it's less overpowering than white or yellow onions, making it ideal for uses that require raw onion. The colour fades as you cook them. Great for Greek salad, on burgers, etc.

Just peel and slice the red onion as called for in your recipe, then submerge them in a bowl of cold or ice water. Let them sit for at least ten minutes, stirring once or twice, before draining and using them in your recipe. For added flavor, you can also soak the onions in lime juice, lemon juice, or vinegar.

Ground sumac is most often used in Turkish seasoning and Arabic spices, ground sumac spice is simply the tangy, citrusy powder from the fruit of the sumac shrub. It is preferred to lemon, tamarind and vinegar for its fresh, zesty flavor.

What does sumac taste like? It tastes somewhat like fresh lemon juice – a bit sour and astringent! But it's much more complex and nuanced in flavor. Sumac is tangy and deep with a hint of earthy sweetness and floral citrus notes.

Tomatoes, eggplants, onions, zucchini, cucumber and garlic are the main vegetables found in Turkish cooking. They're used in everything from dips and salads to fritters and casseroles.

Key ingredients

Frequently used ingredients in Turkish specialties include lamb, chicken, beef, fish, rice, eggplants, green peppers, onions, garlic, lentils, beans, zucchinis, chickpeas and tomatoes.

Seed the peppers, remove the cores, and cut the flesh into thin strips. Chop the cucumber and slice and chop the tomatoes. (Besides the addition of lettuce, this is a main difference between the Greek and Turkish versions. Greek salads have tomato wedges and cucumber discs.)

You can get rid of the strong taste by soaking sliced onions in ice water for 20 to 30 minutes or by sprinkling them with an acid such as vinegar. Onions soaked in ice water will get very crisp while those sprinkled with vinegar will soften a bit, but they will lose the strong taste and become sweeter.

Only found in red or purple onions, anthocyanins are powerful antioxidants and pigments that give these onions their reddish color. Quercetin. An antioxidant flavonoid, quercetin may lower blood pressure and improve heart health ( 19 , 20 ).

Should you put raw onion in salad? ›

Yes, You Can Put Raw Onions in Your Salad.

When preparing raw onions, soak in cold water before hand to remove some of the pungency and soften the flavor. However since soaking too long will dilute the flavor, soaking in cold water for 5 to 10 minutes is recommended. Squeeze out excess water before using.

Then you just have to wait long enough for the vinegar to do its job, rinsing away the harsh sulfurous compounds, softening the onion, and giving it a pleasantly tart pop of flavor. If you use red wine vinegar, my personal favorite, the onions also turn an amazing hot-pink color.

Made from dried berries, sumac is a versatile spice that complements a great range of dishes. Find out how to buy the best, plus our top recipe suggestions.

Is sumac spicy? Sumac isn't spicy like a chilli powder or hot paprika. It has a sour, floral tang that's a bit like lemon or limes but isn't quite as astringent.

Fragrant sumac is named for the spicy citrus fragrance, evident when the leaves are bruised.

The red berries are edible and have a wonderful lemon-y flavor. You can find the red spice made from sumac's dried, crushed berries in Middle Eastern markets where it is a staple in that cuisine. Sumac spice is wonderful in marinades for chicken and kebab or in salad dressings.