We were just in Vietnam filming a food video for Intrepid Travel. One of our favorite activities was a cooking class from a pretty phenomenal Chef. One of the many dishes she taught us was an easy and delicious salad that is quite common in Vietnam. Usually its main ingrediets are green mango or green papaya; sometimes it has dried beef or jellyfish as well. However, wanting to do a more Minnesota version, I used rutabaga, turnip and celery root. Add fish sauce and other goodness, and it’s basically a badass slaw with underused root vegetables. Enjoy.
- 200 grams each of juliened celery root, turnip and rutabaga (a small celery root, average sized rutabaga and a large turnip — don’t worry about being exact)
- 1/2 a red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch watercress
- 1 bunch cilantro (chopped into bite sized pieces)
- 3 Tablespoons toasted sunflower seeds
- 1 Tablespoon sunflower oil
- 3 Tablespoons lime juice
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 3 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 teaspoon minced garlic
In a bowl combine the lime juice, fish sauce and honey. Mix thoroughly and let sit for a few minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. In a larger bowl add together all of the other ingredients (except the sunflower seeds). Add most of the fish sauce and taste the mixture. If you need more “oomph”, add the remaining dressing. Serve with the sunflower seeds on top as well as some of the watercress and cilantro. Another great addition is fried shallots.