Food Lust People Love: kiwi fruit recipes

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad

A fresh twist on the classic tomato and feta combo, this kiwi tomato feta salad is bright, flavorful and delicious.

If you know any New Zealanders, I can guarantee that they will correct you on calling our main ingredient here kiwi without its whole name, kiwi fruit because, of course, the kiwi is also their national bird. Recipes for kiwi? Horrifying. No one eats the flightless bird! At least no one does anymore.

So, I debated with myself about the name of this recipe. Do I add the word fruit so search engines will know I’m not cooking a protected bird? But then, please forgive me, NZ friends, it occurred to me that most of the world has never even heard of the bird that gives you your nickname. Kiwi tomato feta salad it is!

As a small aside, regarding the kiwi fruit, I’ve been reading online that you can actually eat the fuzzy peel but I’ll be honest, that really doesn't sound like a good idea to me. (I prefer nectarines to peaches because of the fuzz and peaches aren’t even sharp.) Some Reddit users claim they scrub or even shave the little hairs off to make the peel more palatable and more power to them. I’ll stick with peeling! For this salad, you do you.

Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad

Since this recipe makes more dressing than you actually need, this salad is very easily doubled. Add a protein, like cooked salmon or chicken and, as is, it makes a lovely lunch for two. I added salmon to mine but since I put it on last, it covered up the lovely green kiwi fruit in those photos, our star ingredient. Without the protein, it's the perfect side salad.

Ingredients

For the dressing:

1 green onion, divided

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon mustard powder (like Colman’s)

Good pinch flakey sea salt

A few good grinds of black pepper, plus extra to finish the salad

For the salad:

3 ripe but firm kiwi fruit

1 ripe but firm tomato

1 oz or 28g feta cheese

Method

Slice the green part of the green onion and finely mince the white part.

Put the white part in a small jar with the vinegar. Set aside for a few minutes then add the rest of the dressing ingredients.

Give it all a good shake until fully mixed, then set aside.

Peel and slice the kiwi.

Core and cut the tomato in to small pieces.

Lay the kiwi slices out single file on a plate. Scatter the tomato on the sliced kiwi.

Crumble the feta and scatter it on the kiwi and tomato.

Give the salad dressing another good shake and then pour or spoon some over the salad. You will not use it all and the rest of the jar can be stored in the refrigerator. Sprinkle on the green onion. Give the whole thing another couple of grinds of black pepper to finish.

Like all good tomato salads, this is best served at room temperature. My husband and I both loved the salad, agreeing that the kiwi was a great addition to the classic tomato feta combo. I don’t buy kiwi fruit very often but using it in this salad will certainly change that!

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 11th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter K. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the K recipes below: