Photo: Nassima Rothacker The Jewelled Table by Hardie Grant
This is another dish from the mutabal family. Traditionally, the beetroots for this salad are boiled, roughly chopped, and served with a tarator dressing, but here they are served raw. If you cannot resist cooking them, they can be sautéed for a couple of minutes in sesame oil. I really enjoy the earthiness and crispness of raw beetroot, and if you want a really spectacular showpiece, try combining different colors and varieties. The radishes add great contrast, with their peppery-hot tones, against the sweet-tart grapefruit and the rich, nutty tahini.
Shaved Beetroot, Radish & Grapefruit Mutabal
Serves 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp tahini
- 5cm/1in piece of root ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 5 tbsp verjuice, or lime juice to taste
- 100g/31⁄2oz radishes
- 400g/14oz beetroots, peeled
- 1 pink grapefruit
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)
- 2 tbsp finely chopped dill leaves, plus extra for sprinkling
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Warm Arabic bread, to serve
Instructions:
1. Put the tahini, ginger, and garlic in a bowl, then season to taste with salt. Slowly pour in the verjuice, whisking quickly as you pour. Set aside. You can prepare this dressing a day ahead to allow the flavors to develop.
2. Using a mandolin on the thinnest setting, slice the radishes, then the beetroots, keeping them separate until assembly. Alternatively, you can use a vegetable peeler or a knife to make thin slices. Arrange the slices on a large platter or in a shallow serving bowl.
3. Zest the grapefruit using a zester, removing only the colored part of the peel and leaving the bitter white pith. If you don’t have a zester, use a vegetable peeler to peel, then finely chop the rind. Put the zest to one side. Peel away and discard any remaining peel and pith and cut the grapefruit into thin slices. Arrange the slices over the beetroots and radishes.
4. Sprinkle the zest over the salad and pour over the tahini dressing.
5. If using, toast the sesame seeds in a heavy-based pan over medium heat for one minute until golden and fragrant, shaking the pan often. Sprinkle the sesame seeds and dill over the top of the salad and season to taste with pepper. Toss before serving and sprinkle with extra dill. Serve as part of a mezze or as a side dish with warm Arabic bread.
Recipe first featured in The Jewelled Kitchen, 2013 (Watkins)
Bethany Kehdy is a celebrated Lebanese-American chef, award-winning cookbook author, culinary anthropologist, presenter, and former Miss Lebanon (2002). The entrepreneur has cooked and consulted for restaurants, gourmet events, and high-profile figures the world over to full restaurant consultancies from New York to Mykonos. Kehdy believes cooking and eating should have no bounds and follow no superficial rules. Pushing the boundaries and dreaming up trailblazing takes on classics, neglected cuts and forgotten ingredients excites her. “I believe that cuisine, especially Middle Eastern cuisine, should evolve as it always has,” she says. “I also think it’s important that we become acquainted with the roots and history first in order to build on this knowledge and maintain the cuisine’s soul essence.”
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