KACHUMBARI

4 from 1 vote
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Kachumbari is Kenyan onion and tomato salad. It is a very simple salad which you can whip up in no time with simple ingredients. Serve with Pilau (East African one-pot rice dish) for an awesome dining experience.

Kachumbari ingredients on a plate

Kachumbari is mainly made with tomatoes and onion. But I added cucumber and avocado to my Kachumbari because they go so well with the onion and tomatoes. I suggest you do same! This salad is fresh, crunchy, refreshing and so light.

It’s a very simple salad just like my simple avocado salad or my Cucumber Mango Salad or my Avocado Cucumber Salad. Can you see that I have a thing for simple salads! Such a few easy vegetables and you yum away!

That’s a great way to get vegetables into your system. Don’t make it complicated. So easy tomato onion salad for the win! For the dressing I drizzled on some good quality extra virgin olive oil, then I added some freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt to taste and black pepper.

Simple Kenyan Salad

Don’t you just love seeing bits of black pepper on a salad?? I love it because that to me means FLAVOR.

The key thing to note when making Kachumbari is let the chopped onion soak in salted water for about 15 minutes before you add it to the salad. This salad is heavy on the onion side and a lot of onions means mouth odor after you eat and nobody wants that.

So make sure you soak the chopped onion in salted water then you drain and add to the other vegetables.

Kachumbari with avocado and cucumber

You’ll want to add this salad to your list of salads. It light, fresh, so easy and most importantly, yummy! It is a great colorful side dish!

Pilau and Kachumbari on a plate

Kachumbari - tomato onion salad

Kachumbari

4 from 1 vote
Kachumbari is Kenyan onion and tomato salad. It is a very simple salad which you can whip up in no time with simple ingredients. Serve with Pilau (East African one-pot rice dish) for an awesome dining experience.
Prep: 10 minutes
Resting Time: 15 minutes
Total: 25 minutes
Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients  

  • 2 large tomatoes
  • Half of a large red onion 1 cup chopped
  • Half a small avocado chopped
  • Half a medium cucumber chopped
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice - from about half a lemon
  • 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 4 sprigs cilantro (coriander) chopped

Instructions 

  • Soak the chopped onion. Place 1 cup of water and half a teaspoon of salt then put in the chopped onion and let it soak for 15 minutes. Drain the onions.
  • Chop the tomatoes. Cut the tomato in half then remove the core and set aside. Go ahead and chop the tomatoes into desired shapes.
  • Place the onions, tomatoes, cucumber, and avocado into a bowl.
  • Mix together olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and ground black pepper. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
  • Serve with Pilau.

Notes

1. Letting the chopped onion soak in salted water for some minutes helps take away the bad breath that comes from eating onions.'
2. I remove the core of the tomatoes because I prefer this salad without. You can leave it in if you like.
3. An optional way to make Kachumbari is the dice all the vegetables. That will make for a pretty salsa-like salad.

Nutrition

Calories: 61kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 297mg | Potassium: 236mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 475IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 0.3mg

Additional Info

Course: Salad
Cuisine: African, East African
Calories: 61
Tried this recipe?Mention @preciouscore or tag #PreciousCore!

Collage of kachumbari with text \"African tomato onion salad.\"


About Precious

Welcome to my core! I am Precious Nkeih, the recipe developer and writer right here on my blog, Precious Core. My goal is to show you insanely delicious recipes you can replicate in your kitchen. And I love to tell stories too. Hope you find recipes here that will make cooking easier for you! Check me out on YouTube at YouTube.com/PreciousKitchen.


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