Beetroot and Daikon Salad

Beetroot and Daikon Salad

Being Japanese, I am a big advocate of eating lots of vegetables in your diet. Surprise, surprise,, one of the best ways to eat fresh veg is in a salad. This Beetroot and Daikon Salad recipe features three vegetables, beetroot, daikon and green beans.

Daikon, which you might know as white radish or mooli, is a much under-appreciated vegetable in my opinion. Daikon is very low in calories and is a super source of various nutrients, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, and copper. It’s also suprisingly high in vitamin C and folate. (You can find out more about the health benefits of daikon by clicking here.) Daikon is mostly cooked in Japanese cuising but I also enjoy it raw. Some people complain that daikon eaten raw has a bitter flavour but there's an easy trick to avoid this (as i do in this recipe) which is to add a little salt to the daikon after you've cut it up. Just leave for 10 - 15 minutes and then give the daikon a good squeeze with your hand. You'll find you squeeze out some liquid and with it, you'll be squeezing out the bitter flavour. What's more, you'll be left with nice, crunchy pieces of daikon to eat in your salad!

I buy the beetroot I use in this recipe pre-cooked. Like daikon, I think beetroot is an under-rated vegetable. It provides great nutrition, including folate, manganese, potassium, iron, and vitamin C. It's also a leading source of fibre. (You can find out more about the health benefits of daikon by clicking here.) There is little prep involved, the beetroots just get cut in half and then into slices. If you are a real lover of crunchy salads, you could even try raw beetroot, very finely sliced, in this recipe.

The dressing I make for my Beetroot and Daikon Salad is pretty straightforward - it's just a simple mix of French mustard, honey, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil.

You've probably already guessed that your Beetroot and Daikon Salad can be ready in about 15 minutes and requires very little effort. For the great taste and the health benefits, it's well worth the time spent in the kitchen!

If you would like to try out my Beetroot and Daikon Salad, you can find the Youtube tutorial by clicking Beetroot and Daikon Salad or by scrolling to the bottom of the page. The written recipe is just below.

Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX.

---

ingredients:

(makes 2 servings)

140g / 5oz daikon (white radish / mooli)

1 tsp salt

80g / 3oz green beans

2 cooked beetroots

for the dressing:

1/2 tbsp French mustard

1/2 tbsp honey

1 lemon

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

---

how to:

peel the daikon, then cutin half longways. slice finely

put the slices of daikon in a bowl. sprinkle with the salt and stir together. set aside for about 10 minutes to allow the salt to remove some of the water content from the daikon. (this will make the daikon crisper when eaten.)

top and tail the rinsed green beans, then cut them in half.  bring a small saucepan of water to the boil. add the green beans and simmer for 3 minutes before draining

next, cut the 2 cooked beetroots in half, then slice

for the dressing:

combine the mustard and honey in a jar or small bowl. squeeze the juice from the lemon and add to the jar/bowl along with the olive oil. mix well

now return to the daikon slices. take u a handful of the slices and give them a good squeeze to drain out the liquid. drain the liquid. repeat this step once more

add the green beans and sliced beetroot to the daikon slice. pour over the dressing and mix well

garnish with a few leaves of mint or coriander

---

Beetroot and Daikon Salad