Sour cream or mayonnaise?

The classic is sour cream: lighter, tangier, more country-style. Mayonnaise is fine but richer. A 50/50 mix is also common.

Is the egg essential?

No, but it makes the salad more filling. The dacha full version has egg; the lighter city version often goes without.

Cut the vegetables ahead, yes. But salt and dress with sour cream only just before serving, or the salad will turn watery.

Sliced tomato, lettuce leaves, a pinch of sugar in the sour cream, a few drops of vinegar, or a crushed garlic clove stirred into the sour cream for a sharper flavour.

Russia · Salads · Vegetarian

Radish and Sour Cream Salad

Name: Radish and Sour Cream Salad
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Russian
Ingredients: 300 g radishes; 200 g cucumber; 3 whole eggs; 4 tbsp green onion; 3 tbsp fresh dill; 150 g sour cream; 0.5 tsp salt; 0.25 tsp black pepper

A classic Russian spring salad of thinly sliced radishes, fresh cucumber, and green onion with hard-boiled egg, dressed generously with cold sour cream and fresh dill. It comes together in minutes and is served right away while the vegetables stay crisp.

15 min 110 kcal 4 serves Easy🌿Vegetarian🇷🇺Russia Jump to recipe

Recipes by emailSubscribe →

Ingredients

ServingsMetric

300 gradishes
200 gcucumber
3 wholeeggs
4 tbspgreen onion
3 tbspfresh dill
150 gsour cream
0.5 tspsalt
0.25 tspblack pepper

Note from Sergei

Sergei Martynov

“Radish and sour cream salad is the earliest spring salad of the Russian dacha garden. As soon as the radishes were ready, they went straight to the table: thinly sliced, with green onion and dill, dressed with cold sour cream. It is not a festive or restaurant salad but a home one, valued for freshness and simplicity: five minutes of work and there is a bright spring side for any main dish.”

Slice the radishes as thinly as you can, thick pieces lose their crunch under the sour cream. And add the sour cream at the very last moment: salted radish and cucumber quickly release liquid and thin the dressing. Cut vegetables can wait in a closed container in the fridge for a few hours, at most until the next day; assemble the salad only when you are ready to eat, and finish a dressed salad the same day.

Method

Hard-boil the eggs for 10 minutes, cool in cold water, peel, and dice or quarter.
Slice the radishes into thin rounds. Slice the cucumber into thin half-moons; if the seeds are watery, scrape them out first.
Finely chop the green onion and dill.
Combine the radishes, cucumber, eggs, green onion, and most of the dill in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the sour cream and fold gently to coat. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Serve right away, scattered with the remaining dill.

FAQ

Radish is the first vegetable ready in the kitchen garden at the start of the season. On Soviet dachas it was the first salad of the new year: radish, dill, and green onion straight from the plot, dressed with sour cream.