Fresh, colorful, and incredibly easy to prepare, Israeli salad is perfect for improvisation. Here's the basic recipe, along with several optional ingredients to personalize it to your liking.

Serves 2 to 4 people, as an accompaniment.

Basic ingredients

• 3 medium-sized cucumbers
• 2 large tomatoes
• 1 green or red bell pepper

Seasoning

• Olive oil
• Fresh lemon juice — at least 1 lemon
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper — optional
• Za'atar — optional

Preparation

The vegetables should be at room temperature.

Finely chop the cucumbers, tomatoes, and bell pepper. You can use a food processor to get small, even dice. It's not necessary to peel the cucumbers.

Place all the vegetables in a large salad bowl, then add any optional ingredients of your choice.

Just before serving, pour in the olive oil and mix. Then add the lemon juice, salt and, according to your preferences, pepper and za'atar.

Serve immediately. Betavon!

Optional ingredients

You can add these ingredients separately or combine them as you wish:

• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley, preferably flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh mint
• ½ carrot, peeled and cut into small dice
• ¼ red onion, finely diced
• Or 2 green onions, finely diced
• 2 leaves of romaine lettuce, chopped

Once the salad is seasoned, you can also garnish it with:

• A handful of toasted pita chips
• ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
• ¼ cup crumbled feta or goat cheese