Beet and Mango Salad with a zero-oil dressing

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This recipe for a beet and mango salad is not just a visual feast with its contrasting colours, but also a treat for the tastebuds.

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I’m back home after nearly a month of being out and slowly limping back into the old schedule. While most of the laundry has been attacked with a vengeance, the suitcases still need to be emptied completely and put away, something that I keep postponing under there is the threat of a guest visiting home. I’ve shopped for a few delightful ingredients from Sikkim and I can’t wait to share them in a post with you, so if you haven’t subscribed to my mailing list yet, find that box in the sidebar and do so right away, will ya? 

It also means getting back into the kitchen and cooking meals after nearly a month of being with my sister and mother, and then our holiday to Sikkim and Darjeeling. There’s a lot to write about – our trip itinerary, the experiences we had in the quaintly beautiful West Sikkim homestay, the crazy mess that Darjeeling has turned into, etc. but there’s also a lot of work to dive headlong into.

I thought I’ll break the lull on my blog with this delicious and pretty looking salad that I made for lunch today. It uses seasonal Banganapalli mangoes that are almost about to say goodbye for 2017. So there is the urgency of sharing it on the blog now and nudging you guys to try it out. 

Also try: Vegan Lettuce Wraps with Mango and Tofu

The dull sweetness of the beets and the full blown sugary sweetness of these perfectly ripened mangoes combine nicely in this beet and mango salad. For this salad, I’ve made a unique dressing that contains the reduced cooking liquid leftover from cooking the beets. Reason being, I didn’t want the nutrients of the beetroots to escape in the cooking liquid. For a change, this dressing has no oil used, but just a mix of the beet cooking juices and lemon juice to add a tartness to what is essentially a sweet salad.

Love beets? Try Beet chips – Beetroots can be made into addictive chips, with barely any oil, in the oven or airfryer.

Other serving suggestions for beet and mango salad – Thinly slice a baguette. Toast until crisp. Brush with extra virgin olive oil. Spoon some of this salad on each slice. Top with crumbled feta.

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Try out this salad while mangoes are in season and let me know if you enjoyed this unique combination. You can also substitute mangoes with any other ripe seasonal fruits like apricots, or use fruits preserved in water, not syrup.

Use of the beet cooking liquid gives the salad an intense beet flavour, cut through just right with the lemon juice. You wont miss the olive oil in the dressing at all.

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Beet and Mango Salad

This recipe for a beet and mango salad is not just a visual feast with its contrasting colours, but also a treat for the tastebuds.

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 25 mins

Course Salad

Cuisine global vegetarian

Servings 2

Ingredients

  

• 2 medium beets
• 1 large mango
• handful of salad greens
• 2 tbsp coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

 

• Slice the tops and tails of the beets. Wash and scrub well.
• Cut into halves. Place in a small pressure cooker with around 1 cup water.
• Cover the cooker lid with the weight. After 3 whistles, reduce flame to minimum and allow to cook for 12-15 minutes. Once cooled, open the cooker, remove cooked beets with a slotted spoon. Keep aside.
• To the remaining cooking liquid, add ginger, black pepper salt and simmer for 4-5 minutes until reduced to 1/2 the volume, and the liquid is thicker. This needs some attention as the liquid can quickly dry out and start burning. Strain into a cup. Once cooled to room temperature. squeeze juice of 1 lemon into this. This is the dressing for the salad.
• Peel the cooked beets by tugging the peels off. Cut into bite sized pieces. Peel and chop the mango into similar bite sized pieces.
• In a platter or two plates, layer some coarsely torn salad greens at the base. Scatter the beet and mango chunks over the greens. Sprinkle some walnuts over the top, reserving some for garnish.
• Drizzle the beet dressing over the salads. Toss them well until they are a red, juicy mess and tuck in! Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Notes

This is a vegan salad. If you like, you can add crumbled feta cheese, the salty taste of which will provide a delicious contrast to both the beet and the mangoes.

Pressure cooking is the fastest way to cook beetroots. It takes almost an hour to cook this tough root vegetable in a stove top pan using the boiling method. You can also used canned beets instead. When you pressure cook beets, cook at least double the quantity than what you need for a recipe. That way you can use them for another salad in the week, or in any other recipe like this beetroot sambar. 

Ever made a salad using rice? You must try this cold rice salad with mango and coconut.

Use ripe, sweet mangoes for this salad. I’ve used the South Indian variety of Banganapalli which is a big sized fruit, with generous sweet flesh.

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