Salad from the past: Our love affair with a simple tomato dish

We return to this salad every year. We remember its taste from childhood vividly. Its strength lies in its simplicity. The most essential elements are delicious, juicy tomatoes, preferably straight from the vine. Then, add a bit of creamy, tangy soured cream. There is one more ingredient, which is the onion. And it was this ingredient that my mother-in-law modified.

Raw onion and soured cream make a pretty heavy mix of ingredients. Simply put, it’s hard to digest. However, you can prepare the onion a bit differently to soften the character of this salad.

Raw onion is hard to digest and doesn’t suit everyone. However, that isn’t a reason to give up the famous summer tomato salad with its addition. Raw and fried onion aren’t recommended for people who should follow a light and easily digestible diet. They can exacerbate symptoms of hyperacidity, gastric ulcer disease, and duodenal ulcer. Even if we don’t have such ailments, often after eating fresh onion, we have stomach aches and don’t feel well.

A simple trick makes the onion lose its potency without losing flavour. This involves scalding the onion. You need to peel it, cut it into thin slices, and pour boiling water over it for a few minutes. Then my mother-in-law drains the onion and rinses it with cold water. This way, the prepared vegetable isn’t sharp and has no bitterness but is delicate. The scalded onion makes the salad much milder in taste. The tomatoes dominate, followed by the soured cream, and the still noticeable onion takes a back seat. Our family enjoys this prepared salad.

Ingredients:

• 3 tomatoes,
• 1 onion,
• salt, pepper to taste,
• 2-3 tablespoons of 18% soured cream,
• a few sprigs of chives, optional.

Method of preparation:

1. Chop the onion into thin slices and scald according to the described method.
2. Dice the tomatoes or cut them into quarters.
3. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl. Add salt and pepper, then season with soured cream.
4. Mix gently. You can add chopped chives.