Beet and Currant Slaw with Seeds
Raw beets, vinegar, oil, and toasted seeds. Ten minutes at the picnic table, no stove.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 7.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 44
- protein
- 8 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Lunch
- No cook
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Day hike
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Raw beets | 300 g | grate at home; they stain everything they touch |
|---|---|---|
| Cider vinegar | 30 ml | unfiltered if you have it |
| Olive oil | 20 ml | dropper bottle |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | |
| Mixed seeds | 50 g | sunflower, pumpkin, pine nuts; toast at home |
| Red currants | 100 g | dried cranberries work if currants are out of season |
| Feta or goat cheese | 50 g | vacuum-packed feta keeps longest |
| Dill | 1 tbsp chopped | or a teaspoon dried |
Method
- At camp, dump the grated beets into your pot or a wide bowl.
- Pour on the vinegar and oil. Salt and pepper it, then stir until every shred is coated.
- Let it sit five minutes while you deal with the toppings. The vinegar softens the beet.
- Scatter the seeds, currants, and crumbled cheese over the top. Finish with dill.
Raw beet holds up in a cooler better than any leafy green, and it does not wilt when it sits in dressing. That makes this one of the few salads worth carrying past the first day. Grating happens at home, where the sink is, because beet juice on a camp table stays there all trip.
The vinegar is not just flavor. Acid softens the shredded beet over about five minutes, which is what turns a pile of raw root vegetable into something you want to eat. Toast the seeds before you leave; a stove at camp is not needed for anything here, and toasted seeds go stale slower than they go soft in a bag.
Packing
Grate the beets and toast the seeds at home. Beets in a zip bag inside a second zip bag, in the cooler. Seeds stay dry and separate or they go soft. Cheese in its own container. Vinegar and oil in small leakproof bottles.
Variations
- Swap the currants for dried cranberries and this leaves the cooler entirely, minus the cheese.
- A can of chickpeas, drained, turns it from a side into lunch.
https://www.schuesselglueck.de/rote-bete-salat-mit-geroesteten-kernen-johannisbeeren-und-ziegenkaese-feat-byodo