Kachumbari is a tomato and onion-based salad that is part of the cuisine in Kenya, Tanzania and other neighboring regions. Kachumbari can be eaten as a side dish or an appetizer for a main meal. It’s also common for kachumbari to be used as a condiment for East African pilau rice and biryani.
While tomatoes and onions always serve as the base for kachumbari, cilantro, avocado, and cucumber also also commonly included in the dish. Seeded habanero or scotch bonnet peppers are also added in some variations of the dish. A simple dressing of lime or lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, a bit of honey, salt, and pepper goes really well with this salad. While I chopped my ingredients for this kachumbari finely, some variations of the dish use thinly sliced ingredients.
Kachumbari (East African Tomato and Onion Salad)
Ingredients
- 4 medium Fresh tomatoes (chopped finely)
- 1 medium red onion (chopped finely)
- ½ English cucumber (chopped finely)
- 1 avocado (peeled, seeded, and chopped finely)
- 6 stalks fresh cilantro (chopped finely)
- 1 habanero pepper (seeded and finely chopped)
- 1 tsp salt
For the dressing
- 1 lime (juiced)
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Put the chopped red onions in a small bowl, add salt, cover with water and let sit for 30 minutes to reduce the oniony taste.
- When it’s time to make the salad, strain the water from the onions.
- In a salad bowl, add the onions, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, cilantro, and habanero pepper. Mix the ingredients together.
- In a small bowl, make the salad dressing by combining balsamic vinegar, olive oil, juice of 1 lime, honey, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the dressing to the salad and mix thoroughly with a salad spoon.
- Refrigerate the salad for at least 15 minutes to cool before serving.
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