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Rainbow shaved salad with a Vietnamese dressing
Serves 4 as a starter or side Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 3 small beetroot, candy variety if available, trimmed and peeled
- 1 lemon, halved
- 1 fennel bulb, trimmed
- 2 carrots (ideally 1 red and 1 purple), peeled
- 10 radishes, a mix of colours if available
- 1tbsp white or black sesame seeds, to serve
- small handful Asian herbs, such as Thai basil or Vietnamese mint if available, otherwise use normal mint and basil, leaves picked
For the dressing
- 1tbsp caster sugar
- 1tbsp nam pla (Asian fish sauce)
- 1 red chilli, finely chopped
- juice 2-3 limes
- 1⁄2tsp grated fresh root ginger
Method
Whisk the ingredients for the dressing together in a large bowl. Taste and adjust to your preferred acidity, heat level and sweetness Using a mandolin set to around 1-2mm (with the guard on or wearing protective gloves), slice the beetroot widthways and then place in a small bowl.
Squeeze the juice of half the lemon into a bowl with a cupful of water. Cut the fennel into quarters then set the mandolin to 0.5mm and slice the quarters into ribbons. Place in the lemon water (this stops the fennel discolouring).
Shave the carrots into ribbons using a Y-shaped peeler or the mandolin. Slice the radishes widthways with the mandolin and place in a bowl of iced water to curl up (if you haven’t already had them in iced water – see Tip).
When you are ready to serve, pat the vegetables dry if they have been in water, then add them to the bowl with the dressing. Use your hands to toss everything together. Pile the ingredients onto a serving platter or divide among 4 individual bowls or plates. To give the salad a bit of height (which shows off the ribbons), use your hands to tease the ingredients into a tall tangle. Scatter over the sesame seeds, then arrange the herb leaves on top or serve them alongside.
Tip: Ahead of using radishes raw, place them whole in a bowl of iced water. This gets them crunchy and firm so that they can be sliced into perfect rounds.
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