Crisp  and cool cucumber salad with  fresh blueberries, pomegranate arils,  goat cheese crumbles and a Persian style salad dressing.

Persian Blueberry Anar Salad with Cucumber

By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime

My recipe of the day  is for a Persian blueberry anar salad  with  cucumber and goat cheese, which I am  posting as a part of Blueberry Week with other bloggers I know.

The Persian Influence

This recipe is fashioned after some Persian salads I have eaten. They are fond of cucumber as well as herbs. Most often the dressing is a vinaigrette made with lemon juice. For this salad, I have used a combination of blueberry vinegar and lime juice to bring out the flavors I want.

What’s Anar, Precious?

You might wonder what the heck anar is. It is very simply  the Farsi word for pomegranate- and the arils are the seeds you get out of that. I understand a great many pomegranate are grown in Iran. You see it used prolifically in recipes such as fesenjan, which  is chicken or duck with pomegranate,  and also in  sharbat, a refreshing drinkade- made with pomegranate juice.

Uses of Pom

A friend of mine from  college who was from  Iran was graduating and was showing me his sofa he and his wife wanted to sell (I  was shopping for one for  my apartment nearby). It was a hot day, not unlike the weather we are currently having, and he entertained with sharbat. He was demonstrating how he could juice the pom without even peeling it, and them punching a hole to squeeze out the juice into a glass.  I was mesmerized by such culinary genius. But I digress.

In this recipe we are using the seeds (arils)  and won’t be juicing those at all. (sob!)

The Devil  and Those Red Stains

But I have also been mesmerized watching culinary tricks for breaking open the fruit under clean cold water. This eliminates the  problem of the juice, which stains like the devil, and the water helps easily rinse away that membrane. Believe me, as a child, I was wild about poms (and you could tell by my stained fingers) (and clothes). Oh how I  vexed my mother with the stains on  my shirt.

But we don’t have to do that either, if  you don’t want. Most markets will  carry those small tubs of arils in the  produce section, ready to go.

Useful Subs

Of course, maybe  you can’t  find any  of it at all. In that case,  don’t fret- I like both the tartness and the crunch, and recommend as a sub using a bit  of halved green grapes and a bit  of something like sunflower  seeds or nuts (for crunch).

But the idea is  a nice fruity vinaigrette on  your cuke salad,  which  most people enjoy all summer long. The blueberries in this are just a delicious bonus.

Welcome to Blueberry Week!

All week  long I have been be sharing blueberry recipes along with other blogger friends of  mine. This is the final day as well  as my final recipe  for the event.  Thank  you for following along! Now,  a few more recipes:

Breakfast

• Blueberry Sourdough Coffee Cake by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Drinks

• Blueberry Lemonade by Caroline’s Cooking
• Blueberry Peach Smoothie by Family Around the Table

Dinner

• Blueberry, Honey, and Goat Cheese Naan Pizza by Cheese Curd In Paradise
• Persian Blueberry Anar Salad with Cucumber by Palatable Pastime

Dessert

• Blueberry Cheesecake Bars by Cookaholic Wife
• Blueberry Skillet Cookie by Crumb Top Baking
• Blueberry Pie Fudge by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Blueberry Buckle by Savory Moments
• No-Bake Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Tart by Sweet Beginnings
• Roasted Blueberry Ice Cream by Daily Dish Recipes
• Vegan Blueberry Coconut Pie by The Baking Fairy
• Blueberry Lemon Curd Dessert Egg Rolls by The Freshman Cook

You Also Might Like:

Grilled Halloumi  Salad with Pickled Blueberries and Pistachios

Strawberry Caprese Pasta Salad

Burrata  Salad  with Blood Orange Pistachio  and Pomegranate

Cuke and Onion  Salad

Salad Irooni