Entry

Shopska Salad

Name: Shopska Salad
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Bulgaria
Ingredients: 400 g ripe tomatoes, cut into rough chunks; 300 g cucumbers, peeled in stripes and diced; 2 roasted red peppers, peeled and torn; 1/2 red onion, sliced paper-thin; 120 g sirene white brine cheese, grated; 30 ml extra virgin olive oil; 10 ml red wine vinegar; 8 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Crisp, low-carb and refreshing — sun-ripened vegetables under a snowfall of white brine cheese.

15 min 4 servings 46 kcal per serving

Ingredients

400 gripe tomatoes, cut into rough chunks
300 gcucumbers, peeled in stripes and diced
2roasted red peppers, peeled and torn
1/2red onion, sliced paper-thin
120 gsirene white brine cheese, grated
30 mlextra virgin olive oil
10 mlred wine vinegar
8 gflat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method

01
Soak the sliced red onion in cold water for five minutes, then drain — this keeps the bite gentle.
02
Char the peppers over a flame or under a hot grill until blistered, steam covered, then slip off the skins.
03
Toss tomatoes, cucumber, peppers and onion with the vinegar and a pinch of salt; let them sit two minutes so the juices come forward.
04
Spoon into a wide shallow bowl and pour over the olive oil.
05
Grate the cheese generously over the top in a soft white dome and finish with parsley and cracked pepper.

Why this dish works

Shopska Salad is built for 4 servings and lands at roughly 46 kcal per plate, with 8g protein, 11g carbohydrate and 12g fat across the recipe. It comes together in about 15 minutes using 8 whole-food ingredients — led by ripe tomatoes, cut into rough chunks, cucumbers, peeled in stripes and diced, roasted red peppers, peeled and torn — so nothing here relies on packaged sauces, refined sugar or ultra-processed shortcuts. That balance is what keeps it a realistic weeknight option rather than a weekend project.

The entry sits inside our Bulgaria collection and carries the Gluten-Free, Low-Glycemic, Anti-Inflammatory, Blood Pressure tags, so it slots straight into the Smart Recipe Finder when you filter by dietary focus or allergens. Scale the portions in the recipe drawer and the ingredient quantities and macros recalculate together; sync it to your shopping list and the pantry tracker subtracts what you already own before the list is generated.

Cooking and storing it well

Read the method through once before you start — the 5 steps are written in the order a working kitchen would run them, with prep that can overlap grouped together. Hands-free cook mode reads each step aloud and runs the timers, so your phone can stay on the counter. Season at the end rather than the beginning: salt, acid and good olive oil do more for the finished plate when they are adjusted against the cooked dish. Leftovers keep well chilled for two to three days in a sealed container; bring anything dressed or herb-heavy back to room temperature before serving so the aromatics come forward again.

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