When autumn comes around, one of the salads I most love making at home is the kırma salad from 7 Mehmet in Antalya. At the restaurant it reaches the table with far fresher produce and a much finer presentation, but I couldn’t keep a recipe this good to myself. Here is 7 Mehmet’s kırma salad, so everyone can make it.
The short answer
Kırma salad is an autumn salad from the menu at 7 Mehmet in Antalya: steamed and cooled broccoli and cauliflower, hand-torn basil, purple basil and mint, avocado and a salted lemon and olive oil dressing. This is less about how the restaurant makes it and more my version at home, inspired by eating it there.
This salad and 7 Mehmet
My father’s side of the family is from Antalya, and I have a lot of love for 7 Mehmet and a lot of respect for the way they work. Whenever we’re in Antalya we order this salad if we can. The new avocado crop starts arriving at the end of August, and in autumn we make it at home a lot. Later, Mehmet Akdağ and I put 7 Mehmet’s story, products and recipes into a book: 7 Mehmet: Stories, Products and Recipes.
Recipe
7 Mehmet’s Kırma Salad
- Prep15 min
- Cook25 min · steamed
Ingredients
- 750 g cauliflower, trimmed
- 500 g broccoli, trimmed
- 15 large leaves basil
- 15 large leaves purple (opal) basil
- 15 large leaves mint
- 25 g (1 medium lemon) lemon juice
- 1 large avocado
- 60 g olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
For the steamer
- 500 ml water
Equipment
Knife, kitchen towel, bowls in various sizes, steamer pot, jar, serving plate
Method
- Trim and wash the broccoli and cauliflower, then steam them for 20–25 minutes. Let them cool and transfer to a wide bowl.
- Meanwhile, shake the lemon juice and salt together in a jar, then add the olive oil.
- Tear the purple basil, mint and basil over the cooled vegetables, clapping the leaves in your palm as you go.
- Cut the avocado into dice-sized pieces and add it to the bowl.
- Pour the dressing over everything, toss and serve.
Notes
- With this ratio of salt, lemon and olive oil, the salad keeps for 3–4 days in a sealed container in the fridge; add a little more olive oil, salt and lemon when you serve it.
- For storage, see the Storage section below.
Why steam it?
You can boil them, but I don’t recommend it. Steaming keeps more of the nutrients, and boiled, these two vegetables taste too watery to me. Cauliflower is firmer and takes longer, so it goes in the lower tier, closer to the boiling water, with the broccoli on top in a single layer; if it piles up, it won’t cook evenly. Medium heat, 20–25 minutes once the water boils: cooked through, but not falling apart. Then let them cool.
The dressing and the olive oil
I shake the lemon juice with the salt in a jar first, then add the olive oil. The ratio is roughly one part lemon to two parts oil. The vegetables look moist but are actually dry; the olive oil brings the moisture. Rather than the soft, gently green oils of Ayvalık and Edremit, this salad wants a bolder memecik olive oil that tickles the palate.
Why I tear the herbs by hand
I don’t chop the basil, purple basil and mint with a knife; I clap and tear them in my palm straight into the salad. That wakes up the oils in the leaves and gives you more aroma, and without metal touching them the herbs darken less.
How to pick an avocado
If the spot where the stem attaches has sunk in slightly and the avocado gives a little in your hand, it’s ripe. I use avocados from Alanya and prefer the ones with a big stone and a thicker skin: their oiliness is just right and they peel easily. Avocados at the market are sometimes picked early; if yours is hard, you may need to let it ripen at home for a while.
Storage
My note: This ratio of salt, lemon and olive oil is enough for the salad to keep for 3–4 days in a sealed container in the fridge. When I serve it, I add a little more olive oil, salt and lemon; Nilay freshens it up with a little olive oil and sometimes basil.
Please note: Keep the salad in a clean, lidded container in the fridge; don’t leave it out at room temperature. The avocado may darken over time. Before eating, make sure nothing is off about its smell or look; if in any doubt, don’t eat it. If you make the dressing in a jar: for a dressing I use straight away I reuse washed old lids, but for anything I store, dressings or preserves, I always use a new lid.
Keep reading and listening
- 7 Mehmet: Stories, Products and Recipes
- Roots and Antalya on our podcast YBYK (in Turkish): episode 26, with Gülay and İdris Hamamsarılar
- Antalya-style tahini bean salad (piyaz)
- Snow pea and broad bean spring salad
