Beetroot Salad

Since the Middle Ages beetroot has been used to treat illnesses related to the blood and digestive system. In recent years beetroot has gained interest as a health promoting, highly nutritious and functional food. Click here to read all about the medicinal properties of beetroot and about it’s blood-pressure lowering properties.

Ingredients

• 600g of beetroot

• 1 tsp of cumin seeds

• 100g of soft goats cheese

• ½ tsp of ground cumin

• 1 tbsp of lemon juice

• 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

• ½ cup of fresh parsley or mint leaves, chopped

• ½ tsp of sea salt

• 3 tbsp of sunflower seeds

• 1 tbsp of pine nuts

Method

Preheat the oven at 180°C.

Wrap the beetroot, skin on, in baking paper, followed by foil and bake for 45 minutes or until you can insert a skewer, indicating that the beetroot is soft and cooked through. Take the beetroot out of the oven and allow them to cool on a tray. I like roasting some beetroot while I’m baking other dishes in the oven. Once done and cooled I store them in the fridge and use them over the next few days.

Peel the beetroot by using a butter knife and fork. Chop the beetroot into cubes (or your preferred size) and put into a salad bowl.

In a hot skillet or cast-iron pan, toast the cumin seeds then remove from the heat and allow to cool. In a mortar and pestle, grind the toasted cumin seeds to a coarse consistency. Add the ground cumin to the beetroot in the bowl. Toast the sunflower seeds and pinenuts and add to the bowl too. Then add all the other remaining ingredients except for the goat’s cheese. Mix well.

You can now fold in the goats cheese pieces gently or arrange them on top of the salad once served on a plate. Enjoy!