Easy-To-Make Healthy Food Recipes Part III-Beet Salad or Beetroot Salad
Beet salad
You may not be familiar with this salad but once you get to taste it, I'm sure you'll become a fan of this healthy and delicious recipe. I first heard about this food item when a job transfer took me from Chennai to Pune. Pune, the cultural capital of Maharashtra in the West of India, is a beautiful place with beautiful people.
The people are friendly and fun-loving and more than anything else, what attracted me most was the boldness exhibited by the women. They are very smart and daring and exhibit great confidence. I have great respect and admiration for the women of this state. I enjoyed my three years' stay in the city and learned several new recipes from my colleagues. Beet salad (beetroot koshimbir as it is called in this city) is one of them and its nutritive value impressed me so much that I want to share it with you.
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 1 medium size Beet or beetroot, finely grated
- 1 big Green chilli, finely chopped
- 3 to 4 tbsp. Yoghurt plain
- 1/2 tsp Mustard, for seasoning
- 1 small piece ginger (optional), finely chopped
- A pinch asafetida
- A few leaves Cilantro, finely chopped
- A few curry leaves (optional)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp. oil
Preparation
- Wash, peel and grate the beet finely.
- To oil in a small fry pan, add mustard; when it splutters, add asafetida and green chilli and saute till the chilli pieces change color slightly. This way, even if you bite into a chilli, it will not be hot and spicy.
- Add the grated beet and salt and fry for a minute or two. It gets cooked very quickly.
- Remove from fire and transfer to a serving bowl. Let it cool for a few minutes.
- Mix in yoghurt and whisk well with a spoon.
- Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve chilled or in room temperature.
- Adding ginger and curry leaves is optional; if you do want to add them, do so in the second step when you add the green chillies.
Why I wanted to share this recipe
I can't really explain the goodness of this beet salad in mere words. Not only is it yummy but is such a healthy and nutritious food that I decided to share it with you.
Red beets are rich in betacyanin that give the vegetable the reddish purple color. Betacyanin is a very powerful anti-cancer agent and it is the one that gives the tint to bougainvillea. In olden days, the Russian women used it to prepare rouge that gave their cheeks the pink color.
The microorganisms in the soil produce a compound called geosmin that gives beet its earthy taste.
There are different kinds of beet in different parts of the world but the most common variety is the blood red beet. It is also prepared differently in different countries. The best way to get the maximum nutrition from this vegetable is to prepare it in a way that preserves its nutritive value meaning that it should not be cooked too much. In this respect, this salad recipe is perfect to get all the nutrition from the beet.
When I first tried out this recipe, I could not believe that beet could be prepared in this simple manner and so full of nutrition. It has since become my favorite dish; I prepare it when there is no time to prepare any other dish and also when there are unexpected guests for dinner. This can be prepared in no time and I don't have to reiterate its healthy aspect (I have stressed this fact too many times in this hub-I'm aware of this but couldn't help it).
Beet contains a whole lot of almost all the vitamins and folate, iron, magnesium, manganese and phosphorus in abundance among other things.
I do hope that you try out this recipe and let me know how much you liked it [or hated it too :)]
But as far as I know, only our youngsters who are picky eaters will frown at this dish because of the earthy taste of this vegetable. Otherwise most of us who give importance to healthy foods should like it. I simply love the taste of this vegetable and hope you get to like this dish.
Happy and healthy eating!
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: 2 cups | |
| Calories | 117 |
| Calories from Fat | 0 |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Carbohydrates 26 g | 9% |
| Sugar 18 g | |
| Fiber 8 g | 32% |
| Protein 4 g | 8% |
| Sodium 212 mg | 9% |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
