Beetroot is a taproot vegetable which people either love or they hate. I am hoping if the haters read some interesting trivia about it, they might be drawn to the vegetable. One being that cultivated originally by the Greeks and the Romans beetroot come in three colours. The red ones we eat, the white ones are grown to procure beetroot sugar and the yellow ones are fed to livestock. The second trivia is that Americans have various names for it. Some are table beet, sugar beet, red beet, golden beet or dinner beet. The third one is that a fresh beetroot is the one which comes with its fresh leaves intact. The beetroot is actually from the same family as the spinach. The leaves of the beetroot lend it freshness and life. I like to make a nice stir fry with good amount of garlic with the leaves. There is more, as of now beetroot lovers do try this recipe.
My food word for this recipe would be a perfect pink.
When you go out shopping look for;
3 large beetroots
400 grams yogurt, I use the store bought packs of any brand
4 sprigs of parsley
2 tsp dry oregano
Salt to taste
The recipe would be;
At first skin the beetroot and then chop them into one by one inch cubes. Boil in a pressure cooker with salt and oregano till you hear four whistles. This means the beetroot needs to be boiled but it should still have its crunch. Open water boiling is also fine. Allow the cubes to cool and come to room temperature.
Beat yogurt with a gentle whisker. Finely chop parsley and add to the creamy yogurt. Now add the beetroot cubes such that they dunk well into the yogurt. The creamy yogurt will turn into a luscious pinkish purple colour. Refrigerate.
The beauty of this side dish is that it can be served as a ‘Raita’ with Indian food, or a side with Mediterranean food or a salad with Turkish or Moroccan food. It is simple and easy with an inherent quirky character of its own.
