Crispy, crunchy, spicy, tangy - Chili-Lime Jicama Salad is a light and zesty accompaniment to any meal. Healthy, low-calorie jicama is an underused vegetable. (Skip to recipe.)
I am so excited, I feel like a giggling little girl ready to jump up and down, clapping my hands.
Today we leave for a trip to Germany and Eastern Europe, gone for almost four weeks. I don't even know what to imagine - the whole Eastern Europe part of the trip will be so new and exciting to us: Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Mostar, Ljubljana (don't even know how to pronounce that one!) Split, Rijeka, Salzburg, then also Munich and Frankfurt. And I think the thing that is exciting me most now is a market tour and cooking course I will be taking in Budapest (along with Andreas, my accomplice). Other than that, and some visiting with friends and family in Germany, the rest of the trip is unplanned - a car, a map and our curiosity!
So I will be off this blog for July (unless I can figure out how to sneak in a picture or two). I will update you when we return and share the highlights, food and otherwise!
Until then, though, I will leave you with this refreshing salad I made a few days ago.
Jicama, native to Mexico, is pronounced hick'-uh-muh (accent on the hick, but not a hick kind of food!). It is a big, flattened, round tuber that has a potato-like exterior, which you peel, and a white crispy interior, that is slightly sweet and very crunchy. It's great eaten raw. I often grate or dice some into green salads. Sticks of jicama on a veggie platter usually elicit raised eyebrows (what in the world is this?) as guests first bite into it, then smiles of delight as the sweet crunchiness is tasted (I love it and I want more!). Mexicans eat it with a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a sprinkle of spicy red chili pepper powder, so I went with those ingredients and turned it into a salad - light, refreshing and a perfect accompaniment to summer grilled meals.
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Kitchen Frau Notes: Instead of the tomato, you could add about ½ cup of chopped red pepper, for the colour. And adjust the cayenne pepper to suit your tastes.
To de-seed a tomato, cut it in half crosswise then, with your finger, dig out the seeds and juice from each little compartment, to leave just the firm flesh of the tomato. This will make your salads less watery.
Chili-Lime Jicama Salad
- 1 large jicama (about 1½ lbs/650gms)
- 1 fresh tomato
- ¼ cup (60ml) chopped fresh cilantro
- ¼ cup (60ml) chopped green onions or chives
- zest of 1 lime
- ¼ cup (60ml) fresh lime juice (about 2 juicy limes)
- 3 tablespoons (45ml) grapeseed oil
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
Cut the jicama in half, then peel the outside brown layer off with a sharp paring knife. Julienne the crisp inside into thin sticks. Use a mandoline if you have one, or cut matchstick thick slices, lay the slices on top of each other and cut onto sticks. (In the pictures above, I used the thicker setting on my mandoline and made shorter, fatter juliennes, which were good, too.) You could also dice the jicama into ½ inch cubes.
De-seed and dice the tomato (see note above). Add it, the cilantro and green onion to the julienned jicama in a salad bowl.
Grate the lime zest over the vegetables. Drizzle with the olive oil and lime juice and sprinkle with the cayenne and salt. Toss it all together well and serve. (If you want to get all fancy-schmancy you can serve the salad in individual little dishes with a garnish of green onions.)
Serves 6.
Olé . . .
. . . and Guten Appetit!
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