Beetroot 4 Ways
Beetroot is a ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ vegetable.
If you don’t love it, just read the awesome benefits and you might at least give one recipe a go.
Beetroots have the most amazing colour, indicating warmth or heat. They smell and taste earthy. Their flesh is dense.
Regarding Ayurvedic qualities, the beetroot is heavy, dense, and cold to the touch. It has a sweet taste, slightly bitter and astringent as well.
They can be eaten raw and cooked; the cooked version is more mellow in its effects and more cooling, too.
Create Healthy Eating Habits in 5 Easy Steps with our FREE 5-Day Email Challenge.
Subscribe to our weekly Sunday Read newsletter & The Seasonal Living Blog posts.
Benefits of the Humble Beetroot
Liver detoxifier – promotes bile flow. Bile draws toxins and fats from the liver and nourishes the liver at the same time with nutrients. This makes beetroot a great vegetable to include in the annual spring cleanse.
Beet is rich in iron, improves blood quality and helps to transport oxygen through the body. Its property even more improves this to relax the walls of the blood vessels.
Beetroots improve eye health. The liver and eyes relate to Pitta dosha and are hence susceptible to heat.
It contains several antioxidant compounds, which promote healthy body reactions in case of allergic, inflammatory, microbial, and cancerous activities.
Beetroots help to clear out the guts with their slightly laxative properties.
Calms the nerves. As a result of the above, the release of toxins improves oxygen supply, causes less inflammation, and the nerves relax as well.
This is pretty impressive, right?
4 Ways to Include Beetroot in Your Diet
The recipes are for 2 portions; the salad might be a little more.
Beetroot Soup
1 medium size beetroot peeled and cubed.
1 small potato for texture, peeled and cubed.
¼ cup yellow split mung dal
1 tbsp Ghee or coconut oil/sunflower oil
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp fennel seeds
Little hing (optional)
¼ tsp turmeric
½ tsp coriander powder
hot water
Salt and black pepper to taste
Little lemon juice
Fresh coriander
How to make it:
Start with washing and soaking the yellow split mung dal.
Peel, wash and cube the beetroot and potato.
Heat the Ghee or oil in a medium-sized pot, add the seeds, hing, and turmeric, and roast for a few moments.
Add the beetroot and sauté for about 2 minutes; add the potato and sauté for another minute; drain the yellow split mung dal and add before adding the coriander powder. Stir all in, then add the hot water to cover the beetroots.
On medium heat, let all simmer until all items are soft, then add salt, freshly ground black pepper and lemon juice.
Add washed and chopped fresh coriander.
Enjoy with a slice of toasted sourdough bread.
Beetroot Vegetable
2 medium beetroots peeled and cubed (small)
1 tbsp oil sunflower oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of hing (optional)
¼ tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander/cumin powder
Salt and black pepper to taste
Fresh coriander
pic taken from blogexplore.com/food/sabzi-veg-dry-curries/beetroot-curry-recipe/
How to make it:
Peel and cube the beetroots.
Heat up the oil in a medium-sized pot, add mustard seeds, wait until they pop, and add hing, turmeric and beetroot.
Stir and sauté the beetroot for a couple of minutes. Add the cumin-coriander powder and stir, then water to cover the pot with the lit turned upside down. Stir frequently to avoid sticking to the bottom. Halfway through, add the salt, then cover again and cook until the beetroot is soft. Mix in the pepper and coriander.
You can enjoy this dish with chapatis and dal or as a side dish to kitchadi.
Beetroot Salad
1 medium beetroot peeled and grated
1 medium apple peeled and grated.
Salad dressing
Olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, little mustard
How to make it:
I love this salad. It’s earthy, satisfying and super tasty.
Mix the grated beetroot and apple thoroughly with the dressing.
Enjoy this salad (about 2 tbsp per dish) and your main meal at lunchtime.
Beetroot Burger
150g raw beetroot, peeled and grated
100g carrot, peeled and grated
80g rolled oats
2 eggs or 2 chia eggs – 2 tbsp spoon chia seed and 6 tbsp water mix thoroughly
½ red onion, finely chopped –
optional: I prefer spring onions or elephant garlic leaves
1 garlic clove, crushed – optional to be omitted in case of increase Pitta
handful of finely chopped dill
handful of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp sunflower oil
How to make it:
For an eggless burger, mix the chia seeds and water to absorb the water, and stir again before adding them to the mixture.
Wash, peel and grate the vegetables.
In a large bowl, thoroughly combine all the ingredients, apart from the oil; set aside in another bowl. Shape the beetroot mixture into 4 large burger patties, about 2cm thick, firmly compacting the mixture to hold its shape.
You can either back the patties in the oven; this is excellent for Kapha dosha, in which case start by heating the oven to 180˚C fan or 200˚C, gas mark 6.
Or pan-fry the patties for about 3 minutes on either side on medium to low heat to avoid the outside burning.
This beetroot burger is a healthy veggie option and a nutritious powerhouse packed with essential vitamins and minerals. It has a great texture, too.
You can eat it in a burger bun or as a side dish of a summer salad, mung dal or vegetable soup.
Avocados work very well with these patties.
Final Thoughts
As we wrap up our beetroot exploration, it's clear that this versatile vegetable can be much more than just a side dish. The beetroot burger recipe is an excellent example of using beetroot to create satisfying, nutritious meals. Whether you bake or pan-fry these patties, they offer a great texture and are packed with essential nutrients.
Remember:
This beetroot burger is not just a healthy veggie option but also a nutritious powerhouse packed with essential vitamins and minerals.
Hopefully, you feel inspired to experiment with beetroot in different recipes. Try making a beetroot dish yourself and see how this colourful vegetable can liven up your meals.
Why not try one of them; let me know how you get on and if you like them.
