Beetroot is not everyone’s favourite, but I am a sucker for the colour. They are somehow gory. I love the way they unashamedly stain everything. I do also like the taste.
This recipe was inspired by a beetroot salad my dear friend Gwyn made once. I would recommend checking out her cook book East Coast Tables for delicious food from KZN. It is not all vegetarian food, but there are a lot of veg dishes. The book showcases largely unpretentious recipes made with a plethora of local ingredients from the east coast of SA. We always eat so well when we stay with Gwyn and her husband Cameron.
I can’t remember which parts were in the original salad, and which parts I added.
Ingredients:
- 4 beetroot
- 1 red onion
- 1 tin beans (I use small white beans as they get stained the most satisfactorily)
- palmful fresh dill
- dress with olive oil, salt and apple cider vinegar
- sesame seeds (optional)
Boil the beetroot with the skin until they are soft. Drain and let cool, and the peel should come off really easily. Cut them into thin slices. Drain the beans. Slice the red onion relatively thinly as well. Chop the dill. Mix everything together and season with olive oil, salt and apple cider vinegar. I usually use about 3 tablespoons olive oil and about the same vinegar. Sometimes I add more vinegar as I am a bit of a junkie, but it depends on how everything tastes together. If you have sesame seeds, they also taste delicious in the salad and absorb the beetroot blood nicely too.
I like serving it with a range of other salads including potato salad, as it stains the yoghurt dressing so gruesomely.
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