Asia → Tajikistan → Dushanbe
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Shakarob (Tajik Tomato and Onion Salad)
Ripe tomatoes and paper-thin onion, soaked in cold water to tame their bite, seasoned simply with salt, black pepper, herbs and a little oil, to eat beside plov.
Tajik · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 0 min
~76 cal · 2g protein · 10g carbs · 3g fat · 3g fiber · 6g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Shakarob is the salad that sits beside the in Tajikistan, and it is known across Central Asia: Uzbeks call it achichuk, and it is eaten in Kyrgyzstan too. It is nothing more than ripe tomatoes and very thinly sliced onion with salt and black pepper, and its job is to cut through a rich, oily plate of oshi palav.
Everything depends on good tomatoes and on the onion being sliced as thin as possible. Many cooks soak the onion in iced water for a few minutes to soften its sharpness and crisp it, and a little oil, fresh coriander, dill or parsley, and sometimes a sliced hot green pepper or cucumber, are the usual additions.
It is made just before the meal and served at room temperature, and it is on the table whenever there is plov.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 4 medium (about 500 g) ripe tomatoes
- 1 medium white or red onion
- 1/4 cup fresh coriander, dill or parsley, chopped
- 1 hot green pepper, thinly sliced, optional
- 1 tbsp unrefined sunflower oil or olive oil, optional
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- 1Slice the onion as thinly as you can into half-moons or rings. Soak them in a bowl of iced water for 5 minutes, then drain and pat dry.✎ Chef’s noteThe cold soak takes the harsh edge off raw onion and makes it crisp.
- 2Slice the tomatoes into thin wedges or half-moons and lay them in a shallow dish.
- 3Scatter over the onion, the green pepper if using and the herbs.
- 4Season with salt and black pepper, drizzle with the oil and toss gently. Serve straight away, at room temperature, beside plov or grilled meat.✎ Chef’s noteSalt it only at the last minute. Salted early, the tomatoes flood the dish with juice.
Tajik and Central Asian home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Dushanbe. Qurut is a preservation technique before it is an ingredient. Yogurt is strained, salted and rolled into balls, then dried hard enough to keep for months without any cold, and dissolving them back into water is how a mountain household gets a sour dairy sauce in the middle of winter.
🗺️
Tajikistan. The sauce over qurutob is not yoghurt but qurut, dried yoghurt-cheese balls hard enough to keep for a year, dissolved back into water. It goes over torn fatir, a flaky layered flatbread rather than the round non, and the whole thing is eaten by hand from one shared plate. One source records a Mongolian-origin claim for the dish, which is worth attributing rather than repeating.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Tajikistan
QurutobTajikistan's national dish: flaky fatir bread torn into a tangy qurut yogurt sauce, topped with onions and herbs.
ShirchoyWarm milk tea poured over torn bread with a knob of butter, a simple Tajik mountain breakfast.
MastavaA hearty rice soup with meat, chickpeas, and vegetables, brightened with herbs and a spoon of yogurt, a Tajik staple.
Browse all Tajikistan recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Best assembled just before serving. Prep the components ahead and dress at the last moment so it stays crisp.
Make it a Tajikistan meal
Choi KabudDrink
Nishallo (Whipped Ramadan Sweet)Dessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Shakarob (Tajik Tomato and Onion Salad)?
Ripe tomatoes and paper-thin onion, soaked in cold water to tame their bite, seasoned simply with salt, black pepper, herbs and a little oil, to eat beside plov.
Where does Shakarob (Tajik Tomato and Onion Salad) come from?
Shakarob (Tajik Tomato and Onion Salad) is a Tajik dish from Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Can Shakarob (Tajik Tomato and Onion Salad) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Shakarob (Tajik Tomato and Onion Salad) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Shakarob (Tajik Tomato and Onion Salad) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Shakarob (Tajik Tomato and Onion Salad) take to make?
About 15 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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