Sweet beet ‘salad’

Winter in its infinite wisdom shows us how to eat for our mental and physical wellbeing. As the cold curls the leafy green vegetables and dries the sweet fruits, under the ground the humble root vegetables wait quietly. One of my favourites is the plush purple beetroot.

Most people avoid the beetroot because of its easily transferred colour and its dense (ie difficult to cook) quality. I university, I would buy tinned baby beets to compensate for a poor diet and lifestyle that had caused low iron and fatigue. I ate them laden in a dry sandwich with salad leaves and could not understand why my iron stores stayed low and my digestion was weak.

Now I know nutrition is only as useful as digestion and absorption. Once I understood these Ayurvedic fundamentals, I look at beets (and salads) quite differently. Here is my new take on beetroots, and a little on how to make salads more easily digestible.

Sweet Beet Salad

Ingredients

• 1-2 whole beetroot with leafy tops

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• Half a cup natural yogurt

• 1 tablespoons ghee

• A half teaspoon black pepper (crushed or powder)

• 1/3 teaspoon cumin seeds

• 1/3 teaspoon fennel seeds

• A half teaspoon mineral salt

• 1 teaspoon cane sugar or jaggery

Method

Dice beetroot leaf and top of stems, and set aside.

Peel and grate the beetroot.

In a serving bowl, add the yogurt and whisk in half a cup of water, salt, pepper and sugar.

In a small pan, warm the ghee to toast the cumin and fennel, then switch off the heat and stir in the beet tops and leaves to coat in oil and spices.

Add the toasted spices and beet tops to the yogurt mixture, whisk, and then add grated beetroot.

Add lemon juice and mix well before serving.

Salads are one of the foods I have learnt to enjoy differently. Raw food is typically cold, dry and hard, or imbalanced because it has a lot of green leaves and little to no root vegetables or grains to help move things along the digestive tract.

Since we grate the beetroot (I know it feels like work, but it’s worth the effort) and add lemon juice, salt and yogurt, the beets begin to cure so they break down and are easier to digest. The spices support this process and add a warming element to the dish so it doesn’t taste cold on a cold day (since beets grow in the wintery months).

If you noticed yourself cringe when I mentioned grating beets, take a pause and ask yourself why you have that reaction? Taking up a small, manageable challenge and overcoming it (you grated the beets!) is one of the ways I have learnt to harness my mental resilience over the years. Turn this menial task into an opportunity to breathe through discomfort, and enjoy the enriching experience of this sweet beet salad that is high in iron and folic acid, reduces constipation, strengthens the liver and adds a bright side dish to any meal (mind the purple hands!).

Ayurvedic tip: Make this dish without the beetroot, and enjoy it as a delicious sauce for roasted vegetables. Or simply mix it into a rice dish for some digestible goodness.