I love making salads because I can use any combination of vegetables and fruits I can think of. Yes, I have made chicken and tuna salads, but I usually pack them with vegetables. To me, making salads is a great way to feed the imagination. It's all about being creative.
Today, close to lunchtime, my mother asked me to get a cucumber out of the fridge, probably to make a simple two-ingredient salad. But then I saw a turnip and thought I would look for a carrot, and then I grabbed a beetroot. "But there are also red onions and some red cabbage. And I could use some coriander," I thought. I shredded all the roots and the cucumber and finely chopped the onion and coriander. And just as I was about to finish preparing the salad, I thought... Well, I'll tell you about it in a bit.
The recipe
The ingredients of my original idea:
- Cucumber, one large
- Turnip, one regular-sized
- Carrot, one regular-sized
- Beetroot, one regular-sized, peeled
- Red onion, a wedge
- Red cabbage, a chunk the same size as the turnip
- Coriander, a couple of sprigs
- Vinegar (cider or white wine, I used white wine)
- Olive oil
The finishing ingredients I had not thought of until the very last minute:
- Ginger root, a little piece (about 1 centimeter)
- Mustard seeds, about a quarter teaspoon, coarsely ground
What I did
First, I shredded the cucumber with the coarse side of the grater. I let it sit in a strainer over a bowl, squeezing to get the juice out.
Second, I grated, separately, the carrot, the beetroot, and the turnip and let them all sit in strainers on bowls as I did with the cucumber. For these roots, I used the fine grater. I expressed the juices every time.
Third, I finely chopped the onion and the coriander.
Here you can see some of the ingredients in their respective strainers and some in the salad bowl
When I was ready to serve the food, I mixed all of the vegetables in a bowl and added two and a half tablespoons of vinegar, three tablespoons of olive oil, and salt to taste.
And then I heard a little voice in my head saying "there is fresh ginger in the fridge." Ginger goes great with beets and carrots, so it seemed a natural choice. The same goes for the mustard seeds and turnip. That is how the ingredients I had not thought of came into play.
Carrot, onion, coriander, and turnip
Ready to mix everything
The salad
This salad was part of a meal that included oil-less fried chicken and boiled cassava
Are you wondering what I did with all the juices drained? Well, I drank them, of course.
I took all of the photographs with my Redmi Note 8 and edited them with Snapseed.
I like that you added mustard seeds in your salad, I often do the same
They are great on salads. And coriander seeds are great in salads too. Have you tried them?
Never tried, I think this would be a great suggestion as I like to try new stuff