Summer brings the bounty of fresh vegetables to farmer's markets, fresh, richly flavoured and rich in variety. There are also a number of small organic farmers that also grow quality produce across India. The Culinarium in Ooty is one of these magical farms.
This is a lovely salad with lots of flavour. The very thinly sliced vegetables are perfect with the sweet-spicy mustard dressing. the beets add flashes of colour and the turnips a bit of heat to the salad. This salad is about freshness and exploiting the best vegetables.
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Ingredients:
2 baby beets, peeled
2 baby kohlrabi, peeled
1 small zucchini, ends trimmed
1 small daikon radish, peeled
For the dressing:
1 tablespoon spicy mustard, preferably Colemans
3 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1-1 1/2 limes
1-2 teaspoons light honey
Salt, to taste
1/2 teaspoon pepper, preferably white pepper
Mix all the ingredients for the dressing and taste. The dressing should be sharp and lightly sweet.
Thinly slice all the vegetables on the thinnest setting of a mandoline. You are looking for very thin slices. Keep all vegetables separate till you assemble the dish, or the red beets will stain all the vegetables.
On a shallow platter arrange the vegetables in a concentric pattern starting from the centre either in a fixed pattern or randomly. You can assemble the platter 30 minutes before you serve the salad.
When ready to serve, drizzle the dressing over the salad and serve immediately.