Tags
middle eastern yogurt salad, salatet laban, yogurt cilantro salad, yogurt salad, yogurt sauce for poultry rice stuffing
500 mL 2 (cups) natural yogurt
1/2 – 1 clove garlic, crushed
salt (to taste)
250 mL (1 cup) cilantro, chopped
Pour yogurt into a bowl and stir until smooth. Add garlic, salt, cilantro and mix. Refrigerate.
Serve as accompaniment to stuffed grape leaves and turkey/chicken rice stuffing.
For a richer taste you may use 250 mL (1 cup) yogurt and 250 mL (1 cup) sour cream.
Makes 6 servings
A word of caution: Cilantro comes in bunches loaded with sand. Chop off the roots and wash the greens thoroughly in tubs of running water.
Nadia's Cooking 
wow..never had this with cilantro only mint or dill..is this palestinian/jordanian?
Hello Mariam,
Somewhat similar to you, I’ve only had this salad with cucumber, mint and garlic if desired. That’s the way I’ve seen it prepared in Northern Palestine – Haifa, Nazareth area – and in Lebanon, where we lived the refugee life for four years
.
How did I come across this delightful and delicious cilantro version? Via our friendship with the DZ family here in Canada; they lived their refugee life in Egypt before emigrating to Canada; and I imagine that’s where they picked up the practice of adding cilantro to this salad and to a few other dishes, ie, cauliflower stew, fried tomatoes, etc…, while we in Northern Palestine tend to use coriander (the seed of cilantro) to these dishes.
From what I understand the use of cilantro has spread far and wide westward from India toward the Gulf States and further on to Egypt, etc, etc,…
Dear S. from the DZ family, you’re invited to add your thoughts on this topic if you wish!
Nadia
Since childhood, I remember my mother using the yogurt-garlic-cilantro sauce as a sauce to be added to rice stuffings, traditional Palestinian rice-lentil dishes (better known as Mujjadara), or as a dip to stuffed grape leaves. In this regard I can say that mother used both the leaves, as I described above or indeed the crushed dried seeds in many of her delicious stews, such as molokhia, okra, or potato stew. When I make stews, i use both the fried fresh green leaves as well as the fried crushed dried seeds. I cannot tell if my mother picked up her green coriander dishes from her life in Egypt or from her home in Palestine. All I know is that whether green or as a dried seed coriander is superb. It’s scientific name is Coriandrum sativum and is from the same family as parsley, carrot and celery (family Umbelliferae). The plant is indigenous to Southern Europe and the Mediterranean area. Now it is widely featured in Arabic, Indian Thai and Latin American cuisine. It was even featured in Roman literature. Not only it is delicious, it is healthy too. One hundred grams of the raw leaves will supply 3 gram of fiber, 2 gram of protein 0.5 gram of fat and a good supply of vitamin C.
So eat it and enjoy it.
Oh Samir, you made my day! You’re so knowledgeable… Thank you!
Nadia
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I made this tonight! I went all-out and added everything- garlic, mint, cilantro and cucumber. Went perfectly with the Hashwi!
Great, John!!! You make me smile. You are a delightful and adventurous cook. Yeah!!!
mom/nadia