“Uncle Ben’s” Salad, Murashka-Style

Name: “Uncle Ben’s” Salad, Murashka-Style
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Eastern European cuisine
Ingredients: 2 kg zucchini; 5 sweet peppers (5-6); 10 red tomatoes; 10 onions; 1 cup sunflower oil; 1 tas table vinegar; 1 tas salt (heaping); 1 cup sugar; 0.5 lt tomato paste, diluted with water to 1 liter

September 1, 2026August 25, 2026 Kateryna Bondar

Cuisine

Eastern European cuisine

Course

Salads

Serves 4 people

Prep time

20m

Cook Time

50m

A homemade riff named, tongue-in-cheek, after the store-bought “Uncle Ben’s” sauce: instead of a factory jar, a canned zucchini salad with peppers, onion, and tomato. The nickname stuck because its thick body and sweet-sour balance echo that same jarred vegetable sauce — minus the preservatives.

Why the staggered cooking matters

The texture depends on adding the vegetables in stages, 10 minutes apart. Zucchini takes the longest, so it leads; the delicate tomatoes go in last so they don’t collapse. Each vegetable keeps its own identity instead of melting into a uniform purée.

Use young zucchini (courgettes) — small seeds, thin skin; overripe ones need their spongy cores scooped out. Be sure to dilute the tomato paste with water up to a full liter (about a quart), or the salad turns too concentrated and scorches. Vinegar and sugar go in at the very end to keep the flavor bright. Pack it hot into sterilized 0.5-liter (roughly pint) jars. Serve cold as a starter, alongside grains, or spread on bread.

Part of Eastern European cuisine — 35 more recipes in the section.

Ingredients

Instructions

Peel the zucchini, cut into cubes, and stew for 10 minutes.
Add the vegetables one after another, stewing 10 minutes each time: first the onion in rings, then the peppers in strips, then the tomatoes.
Pour in the oil and the diluted tomato paste, and salt.
At the end, add the sugar and vinegar.
Divide the hot salad into 0.5-liter jars and sterilize for 10 minutes, then seal.