A Persimmon Salad for you to make this winter

This winter persimmon salad brings colours of the rainbow to your plate. Super delicious and healthy, with seasonal produce, try this one out when persimmons are in season.

While I’ve known of persimmons for a while, I got a taste of this fruit only last year. My neighbours are extremely resourceful people. One of them got the contact of a farmer in Himachal who was willing to send us boxes of locally grown organic persimmons and kiwi fruit. A whole bunch of us eagerly signed up to meet the minimum requirement for a consignment.

There was a 10 day wait until the fruits reached our doorstep.

The kiwis were just about half the size of the popular brands you see in the supermarket. Literally one bite sized and the cutest kiwis I have ever seen. Not to mention, the sweetest, juiciest kiwis I had ever sunk my teeth into. It required extreme self control not to devour the entire lot of 2 dozen in one go. It did help that they were ripening gradually and I could only eat what was ripe and ready. Thank you, Mother Nature 🙂

Over to the persimmons… and this persimmon salad..these fruits seemed extremely stubborn to graduate to a ripe state. It almost felt like they were happy hibernating in their raw and firm state, unwilling to succumb to my growing temptation to take a bite. I had never tasted a persimmon so I was literally dying to find out how it tastes like.

2 weeks went by and one persimmon finally showed signs of ripening. The flesh seemed to yield to pressure just a bit and it was a hallelujah moment for me. I went after it with a knife and chopping board.

You need to be a true foodie or a food blogger to understand the excitement of this moment.

I sliced up the persimmon and immediately popped a slice into my mouth. I liked it, but did not love it. It was one of those cloying sweet tastes without a tinge of tartness to balance it out. When I showed the fruit to my son, he said, ‘Ugh! This one has the colour of a papaya. I cannot taste it!”. In case it isn’t evident, he abhors papayas 😀

Persimmon wasn’t a fruit that made me want to gobble it down by the sack, like I can do with oranges or kiwis. So I decided to put them to use in recipes. It went into my morning oatmeal (easily a replacement for honey), midmorning snack with yogurt and a few salads too.

So what goes into this SUPER healthy Persimmon Salad?

1. Persimmons, of course
2. Red carrots that are very much in season in India
3. Few greens from my kitchen garden –fenugreek leaves or methi with its slight bitterness will complement this fruit well
4. Blue cheese for its saltiness and funky flavour
5. Grated ginger in the dressing provides the heat and extremely good to kickstart the digestion in winter when the system tends to go sluggish
6. A sprinkle of sesame seeds for that dose of healthy fats and crunch

This salad is rainbow on your plate. #eattherainbow goals yo!

To make this a vegan winter persimmon salad, by all means omit the blue cheese. But for me, the cheese is the highlight of this salad dominated by sweet flavours. The salty funky taste rounds off the flavours in this salad superbly.

Winter Persimmon Salad – Vegan version

This post was first published on 2 Jan, 2018 and updated on 2 Dec, 2018.

Winter Persimmon Salad

This winter persimmon salad brings colours of the rainbow to your plate. Super delicious and healthy, with seasonal produce.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 10 minutes mins

Servings: 2 servings

Course: Salad

Cuisine: global vegetarian

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 persimmon
• 1 apple
• 8-10 dino kale leaves
• 1 small bunch rocket leaves
• 1 orange carrot
• 1 red carrot
• 50 grams blue cheese

For dressing

• 1.5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp finely grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tsp sesame seeds

Method

 

1. Cut the persimmon into quarters and then slice into 1 cm thick slices, discarding the core and seeds if any.
2. Cut the apple similarly. Toss apple pieces in 1 tsp lemon juice and keep aside.
3. Wash and dry the leaves on cotton towels or in a salad spinner. Chop into bite sized pieces and keep aside.
4. Scrub and peel the carrots. Using a julienne grater or spiraliser.
5. Combine the prepped ingredients in a bowl.
6. Whisk the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl until thick and creamy. Pour over the salad.
7. Toast the sesame seeds in a small pan on high heat until they start popping. Top the salad with the toasted seeds.
8. Scatter crumbled blue cheese over the salad.

Notes

• No rocket or kale? Use any green leafy vegetables that you can find and that are in season.
• Try this recipe using mangoes instead of persimmons
• You can also use spiralised white radish in addition to the carrots
• You can buy a very handy julienne peeler to make quick work of spiralizing vegetables like carrot and radish. In India, Big Bazaar stocks these peelers and they are <Rs.100.

Watch this informative video on persimmons that tells you more about the two most popular varieties.

[recipe-video]

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