Beetroot salad

Ingredients:

250g cooked beetroot (NOT in vinegar)
50g walnuts 
50g raisins
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tblsp mayonnaise
1 tblsp vegan yogurt

Method:

Put the beetroot in a food processor with the walnuts and pulse a few times until well chopped.

Stir in the raisins and garlic, then add the mayonnaise and yogurt. Mix well, and transfer to a serving dish. 

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Until about six months ago, I thought I disliked beetroot. In the UK it's usually served sliced, in vinegar, which I don't like at all. 

So when beetroot salad was offered as part of a spread of food at a friend's house a while ago, I took only the smallest spoonful. It was delicious! No vinegar taste at all. I took a larger helping and thought it so good that I asked for the recipe.

In the summer we only really eat salads; I don't use the oven at all. I'm always trying to find new ways to use different ingredients, to incorporate as many fruit and vegetables as possible into our meals. I saw a vacuum pack of beetroot, something which I had always assumed would be in vinegar. The label said that the only ingredient was beetroot, and that it was cooked, ready to eat. I decided to buy it.

The recipe I was given was for 500g cooked beetroot, but that seemed like a lot; we were entertaining a couple of friends for lunch, but had plenty of other food, so I thought I would try just half of it. Easy to do, as there were four cooked beetroots in the package. 

The recipe said that they should be grated; I thought that would be extremely messy and quite tiring. So I threw them in the food processor, which worked well. I had a pack of ready-ground walnuts, but forgot that I was making half the recipe, so I added 50g anyway, and 50g raisins, although it should have been just 25g of each. I crushed two garlic cloves, too, rather than one. 

I then realised my mistake, but didn't suppose it would matter. 

The recipe asked for mayonnaise and sour cream; since I only make dairy-free foods, I added a tablespoon of our favourite coconut-based vegan yogurt instead. The mayonnaise we buy isn't vegan (though it's dairy-free); but it could easily be made vegan with one of the vegan brands of mayo.

Then I forgot to photograph it until the first spoonful had been taken out.

Since then, I've made it the same way three times, and it seems to work well. So the above is my variation recipe, adjusted from the original. I may well adapt it again in future; I think dried cranberries might make a good alternative to raisins, for instance. 

I didn't add any salt or pepper either, though the recipe suggested it. It's very flavourful, in my view, and doesn't need anything else. But it's easy enough to add extra seasoning if necessary.