Beet Salad

Total Time: 1 hr Difficulty: Beginner
If you’d like to enjoy a classic Estonian festive rosolje but can’t quite make peace with the herring swimming around in your mouth, then this salad is for you! It may not qualify as a proper rosolje due to the lack of herring, but it certainly earns its place on the party table as a deliciously red beet salad.
Peedisalat

I always look at rosolje on birthday tables with a slightly wistful expression – I’d like some too, but oh, that herring… From time to time, I still give it a try, hoping that maybe I’ve finally grown up and learned to like it. But it seems I still have some time to go… The only herring I can actually eat is probably a bit of a cheat – the Swedish-style one in a sweet red onion marinade, which is actually quite tasty. Any other form of that slippery fellow leaves me entirely cold.

Luckily, that doesn’t mean I have to give up a delicious creamy beet salad! One lovely afternoon, I scribbled down a rough plan on paper – well, let’s add some beets, carrots, definitely red onion, pickles, and maybe a bit of ham too. A classic mayonnaise-yogurt dressing on top, and it looked promising enough on paper. But reality knocked me off my feet. It was so much tastier than I could have imagined! Let’s just say that what was supposed to be a casual “taste test with a spoon” turned into me accidentally eating half of a VERY large bowl because I simply couldn’t stop. My stomach hurt all evening – probably from overeating just a bit… For that reason, I honestly can’t say how many servings this recipe truly makes – I might have eaten most of it by myself. But if you look at the amount, it should serve about ten people.

Difficulty: Beginner Prep Time 30 mins Cook Time 30 mins Total Time 1 hr

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Peel and boil the beets and carrots until soft.*
  2. Dice the ham, carrots, pickles, onion, and beets** and place everything in a bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, yogurt, mustard, and seasonings for the dressing.
  4. Pour the dressing over the chopped vegetables and mix gently. Let stand for one hour before serving. Garnish with a quail egg and a sprinkle of dill.

Note

*You can also use pre-cooked beets.

**I usually dice the beets on a plate using a fork – that way, I don’t stain my wooden cutting board or hands, which are quite hard to clean afterward. The fork replaces the hand and helps keep the beet steady while cutting.

Keywords: beet, salad, parties,
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