You can't beat a root

I have been picking quite a bit of beetroot from the garden this week.  Two different types - blood red and pink and white striped. Both delicious.

What to do with it? Well so far I have made my usual grated raw carrot and beetroot salad with a garlicky vinaigrette. Simple, colourful and good. I also like to pickle it.  Here is the recipe from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.  An old American cookbook which my Granny loved and gave to me.

Pickled Beetroot
Mix half cup white vinegar with a quarter cup of sugar (or a bit less) and boil for 5 mins.  Add quarter teaspoon of salt.  Pour over about 2 cups of cooked, sliced beetroot.  (tastes remarkably liked the tinned stuff but better cause you know you grew and cooked it).  I love a bit of beetroot on my sandwiches!

I also made Madher Jaffrey's beetroot and onion curry for the first time.  It was ok, actually pretty good with the cucumber raita but I liked it even more cold the next day with the felafels and tabbouleh we had for dinner. Yum. (i love Madher Jaffrey's Indian Cookbook.) You can find some recipes on the internet here.     

• 350 g raw beetroot
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and very finely chopped
• 100 g onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 tsp plain flour
• 0.125-0.5 tsp cayenne pepper
• 225 g tomatoes, peeled and very finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 300 ml water

Method

1. Peel the beetroot and cut them into wedges. A medium-sized beetroot, about 5cm in length, should, for example, be cut into 6 wedges.

2. Put the oil in a medium-sized pan and set over a medium heat. When hot, put in the cumin seeds. Let them sizzle for 5 seconds. Put in the garlic. Stir and fry until the garlic pieces turn golden. Put in the onions. Stir and fry for 2 minutes. Put in the flour and cayenne. Stir and fry for a minute. Now put in the beetroot, the tomatoes, salt and water. Bring to a simmer. Cover, turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes or until the beetroot are tender. Remove lid, turn up heat to medium, and cook uncovered for about 7 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.

3. This dish may be made ahead of time and reheated.

(I just pasted this recipe on here and all the links came with it.!!Cool!)

On an internet cruise I found this site which has a recipe for Beetroot pakoras which I might try out next week....cause you can't beat a root!  ( I love a corny phrase!)

PS just saw this cool video of a beetroot cake on vimeo

beet cake from tiger in a jar on Vimeo.