Chef Lesia
Buryakovyi Salat (буряковий салат, raw beet salad)
The beet stays raw, so the salad bites back: crimson, garlicky, nutty, slick with green sunflower oil, and ready before the bread is on the table.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Salat z Sochevytsi (салат з сочевиці, lentil salad)
Created by
The trick is to dress the lentils while they're still warm, when each little coin opens its coat and drinks in garlic, walnut oil, dill, and sharp onion.
Salads
Ukrainian
Budget Friendly
Meal Prep
Weeknight
15 min
Active Time
30 min cook•45 min total
Yield6 to 8 servings
Warm lentils are greedy. Dress them cold and the oil slides around the bowl; dress them while they still smell nutty from the pot and they drink up garlic, vinegar, green sunflower oil, and the walnuts that soften into the dressing like they were always meant to be there.
This is not a grand feast dish. Good. Some of the best Ukrainian food lives in the weekday bowl, the kind you make when money is tight, guests might still appear, and you need something that will sit well in the fridge without turning sad. In my London kitchen I make it in the autumn, when walnuts are fresh and a bunch of dill still makes the whole room feel green, but it is just as honest in February with stored onions and a jar of sour tomatoes on the side.
The one thing that decides the dish is timing. Salt the lentils after they soften so their skins don't toughen, then drain them well and dress them hot enough to wake the garlic. Aunt Nadia would have written, "until the smell changes," and here it means the raw bite turns round, the oil smells grassy, and the walnuts go from dry crunch to something almost creamy. Make a big bowl. Leftovers are tomorrow's lunch, and tomorrow they may be better.
Lentils, sochevytsia, belong to Ukraine's older pulse cookery alongside peas, beans, and buckwheat, especially in fasting kitchens where meatless dishes had to carry real strength. Walnuts link this version to the south and southwest, including Odesa, Bessarabia, and Podillia, where nut trees, sunflower oil, garlic, and sharp pickles turn plain legumes into table food, not punishment.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
green or brown lentils
Quantity
300g
rinsed and picked over
bay leaf
Quantity
1
small onion
Quantity
1
peeled and halved
sea salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
walnuts
Quantity
80g
roughly chopped
red onion
Quantity
1 small
finely sliced
apple cider vinegar or brine from fermented tomatoes
Quantity
2 tablespoons
honey or sugar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
unrefined sunflower oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons
garlic
Quantity
2 cloves
finely grated or crushed
dill
Quantity
1 large bunch
finely chopped
chives or spring onions
Quantity
1 small handful
finely sliced
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
sour cucumbers or fermented tomatoes (optional)
Quantity
2
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| green or brown lentilsrinsed and picked over | 300g |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| small onionpeeled and halved | 1 |
| sea salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| walnutsroughly chopped | 80g |
| red onionfinely sliced | 1 small |
| apple cider vinegar or brine from fermented tomatoes | 2 tablespoons |
| honey or sugar | 1 teaspoon |
| unrefined sunflower oil | 3 tablespoons |
| garlicfinely grated or crushed | 2 cloves |
| dillfinely chopped | 1 large bunch |
| chives or spring onionsfinely sliced | 1 small handful |
| black pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
| sour cucumbers or fermented tomatoes (optional)chopped | 2 |
Equipment Needed
- •Medium saucepan
- •Dry frying pan for the walnuts
- •Large shallow serving bowl
Instructions
- 1
Cook the lentils
Put the lentils in a pan with the bay leaf and halved onion, then cover with plenty of cold water. Bring them to a lively simmer, then lower the heat so the surface moves gently. Cook until the lentils are tender but still holding their shape, tasting as you go. They should give under your teeth, not burst into mash.
Salt them only once they begin to soften. Salt too early can make the skins stubborn, and this salad wants whole lentils, not paste. - 2
Wake the walnuts
While the lentils cook, toast the walnuts in a dry pan until they smell warm and slightly sweet. Shake the pan often. When their color deepens by one shade and the first little skins loosen, tip them out so they don't scorch.
- 3
Soften the onion
Put the sliced red onion in your serving bowl with the vinegar or tomato brine, honey, and a pinch of salt. Scrunch it once with your fingers and leave it while everything else finishes. The onion should relax, turn glossy, and lose its sharp shout.
- 4
Dress it warm
Drain the lentils well and discard the bay leaf and onion. Add the hot lentils straight to the bowl with the softened onion, then fold in the sunflower oil, garlic, walnuts, and plenty of black pepper. This is the whole secret: warm lentils drink the dressing, and the garlic blooms without needing a pan.
If the bowl looks dry after five minutes, add another spoon of sunflower oil or pickle brine. Lentils vary, and some are thirstier than others. - 5
Finish green
Fold in the dill, chives or spring onions, and the chopped sour cucumbers or fermented tomatoes if using. Taste for salt, sourness, and oil. It should be nutty first, then garlicky, then bright at the end. Serve warm, or let it cool and pack it for the next day.
Chef Tips
- •Use green or brown lentils, not red. Red lentils collapse, which is useful for soup but wrong for this salad's bite.
- •Unrefined sunflower oil matters here because it stays raw. It is Ukraine in a bottle of oil, grassy, nutty, and gold-green.
- •Fermented tomato brine is beautiful in place of vinegar. In August we'd be drowning in tomatoes; in January we open a jar instead.
- •This salad forgives changes. Add roasted beetroot, grated carrot, or chopped pickled mushrooms and it becomes a bit more modern, still very much a working kitchen bowl.
Advance Preparation
- •The salad keeps well for 3 days in the fridge. Add a fresh handful of dill and a small splash of sunflower oil before serving.
- •You can cook the lentils a day ahead, but dress them while warm if you can. That is where the flavor settles in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 165g)
Calories
285 calories
Total Fat
15 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
13 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
560 mg
Total Carbohydrates
29 g
Dietary Fiber
12 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
13 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Ukrainian Salads
Browse the full collection
Chef Lesia
Cholovichyi Salat (чоловічий салат, men's beef salad)
The pickle keeps this so-called men's salad honest: beef and beans bring the appetite, fried onion brings sweetness, and cucumber brine cuts through the mayonnaise until the bowl wakes up.
Chef Lesia
Hrybnyi Salat (грибний салат, mushroom salad)
Open the jar and the holiday table smells briefly of the woods: marinated mushrooms, potato, egg, cheese, dill, and just enough mayonnaise to make it hold together.
Chef Lesia
Kapustianyi Salat (капустяний салат, fresh cabbage slaw)
The cabbage changes under your hands: stiff, squeaky ribbons soften into a glossy summer salad with carrot sweetness, dill sharpness, and green sunflower oil catching the light.