Yasmin Khan’s Donyana Salad Recipe
Serves 4 as a side dish
A New Yorker, Guardian, BookRiot, Kitchn, KCRW, and Literary Hub best cookbook of the year, Yasmin Khan’s Zaitoun is a dazzling celebration of Palestinian cuisine, featuring more than 80 modern recipes, captivating stories and stunning travel photography. Khan unlocks the flavors and fragrances of modern Palestine, from the sun-kissed pomegranate stalls of Akka, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, through evergreen oases of date plantations in the Jordan Valley, to the fading fish markets of Gaza City. In each place she visits, Khan enters the kitchens of Palestinians of all ages and backgrounds, discovering the secrets of their cuisine and sharing heartlifting stories. Inspired by a dish Khan ate in Akka, this donyana salad makes for a delicious side.
This aromatic recipe draws inspiration from a dish I enjoyed on the breezy seafront terrace of Donyana restaurant in the historic coastal town of Akka. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has a long history; it is mentioned in Egyptian texts from the nineteenth century BC, while in Greek mythology it is supposedly the place where Hercules found a medicinal plant to heal his wounds. Donyana is a derivative of the word that means ‘the world’ in Arabic and, wandering through the city’s ancient winding streets and Ottoman-era fort, the mélange of influences that have gathered here over the centuries is tangible. Paying homage to that, this glorious mixture of textures and flavors celebrates local Palestinian ingredients.
Serves 4 as a side dish
2 fennel bulbs (about 8 oz./300g in total)
1 Granny Smith apple,
or other tart apple
3 tablespoons/15g dill, coarse stalks removed, finely chopped
3 tablespoons/15g parsley leaves, finely chopped
1/4 cup/30g sweetened dried cranberries or sour cherries
1/3 cup/50g blanched almonds, roughly chopped
juice of 1/2 orange,
or to taste
juice of 1/2 lemon,
or to taste
zest of 1 organic or
unwaxed orange,
removed with a zester
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Core the fennel and apple and, using a sharp knife or mandoline, finely cut both into very thin slices, saving any fennel fronds. Place in a bowl with the herbs and cranberries or cherries.
Toast the almonds in a dry pan over a medium heat until they turn golden brown, then add them to the salad.
Pour over the orange and lemon juices, orange zest and extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss gently and taste; you may want to add a squeeze more lemon or orange juice to adjust the acidity or sweetness to your liking. Scatter with the reserved fennel fronds, if you have them.
This salad can happily sit for 1 hour or so before serving; in fact it even improves, as the flavors have a chance to harmonize.
Reprinted from Zaitoun. Copyright © 2018 by Yasmin Khan. Photography copyright © by Matt Russell. Used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
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