Timatim salata

Name: Timatim salata
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Ethiopia
Ingredients: 700 g ripe tomatoes, diced; 1 red onion, thinly sliced; 2 jalapeños, seeded and sliced; 60 ml olive oil; Juice of 1 lemon; 1 tsp salt; Black pepper; 2 stale 100% teff injera, torn into pieces

Local name: ጥማጥም ሰላጣ

Ethiopian salad of tomato and red onion with jalapeño, built around torn injera that soaks up the juices.

Published on 3 June 2026·Updated on 26 September 2026

VeganGluten-free#tomato#onion#salad#ethiopia#raw

AI-generated image, not a photograph of the dish

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 0 min
Total: 15 min
Serves: 6
Difficulty: Easy

Method

Soak the red onion in cold water for 10 minutes, then drain. This takes the bite off it.
Cut the tomatoes into 1 cm dice, keeping any juice that runs out.
Combine the tomatoes, onion and jalapeño in a wide bowl.
Whisk the olive oil with the lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the vegetables and turn them with your hands.
Rest for 15 minutes in a cool place so the tomatoes give up their water.
Fold in the torn injera just before serving and turn once.

Here the injera enters the salad as an ingredient: it drinks the tomato juice and gives the bowl body. Ethiopian kitchens serve timatim during Orthodox fasting days, when animal products are set aside.

The techniques this recipe uses

Drain and rinse
Canning liquid clouds a sauce and salts it blind: rinse until the water runs clear.

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Nutrition per serving

Calories: 206 kcal
Protein: 3.8 g
Fat: 10.7 g
Carbohydrate: 26.5 g
Fibre: 4.5 g

An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.

Frequently asked questions

Why soak the red onion in cold water?

Ten minutes in cold water takes off its harsh bite and lingering aftertaste without costing it crunch or colour. That matters here because the onion stays entirely raw in the salad.

When do the pieces of injera go in?

Right before serving, with a single turn of the bowl. Injera is a full ingredient here: it drinks the tomato juice and gives the salad body. Added too early it saturates completely and turns pasty.

What if I have no stale injera?

The salad is good on its own alongside other dishes, and bread if you are not avoiding gluten. If you leave the injera out, do not let it stand too long after dressing: without it, nothing soaks up the juice the tomatoes release.

The tomato, three centuries to conquer the world
The tomato reached Europe in the sixteenth century and was distrusted for two hundred years. What each kitchen made of it, and the handling that matters.
Ethiopian cooking, vegetarian two days a week
How the Orthodox fasting calendar built a vegan gluten-free cuisine, and how to assemble your first shared injera platter at home.

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