Beetroot Salad with Cardamom Ginger Mint Yoghurt

For 4 – 6

6 medium beetroots

Olive oil or sunflower oil for roasting

½ c full cream yoghurt

Mint syrup Sekanjebin : 1/2 c sugar, ½ c water, 2 T white vinegar, ½ c mint leaves, shredded

2 T apple cider vinegar

1 tsp ground cardamom

5 cm piece of fresh ginger, scraped and grated

Salt and black pepper

Good handful of mint, shredded, for garnish

Any baby beetroot leaves from your bunch of beetroot, thoroughly washed, for garnish

You could cook the beetroot 2 ways: wrap them in foil with a little oil drizzled over them and roast for 1 ½ hours until tender.  This method delivers a very delicious beetroot.  But boiling with skin on for 50 mins – 1 hr will also deliver a very silky beetroot.  You can also cheat and buy them ready cooked!

It’s the dressing that’s the winner that will transform the sliced beetroot into discs of wonder! 

To make the Sekanjebin (mint) Vinegar syrup: boil the sugar and water together, letting it bubble for 10 minutes.  When nearly cooled, add the shredded mint and the vinegar.

To make the dressing: mix together the yoghurt, apple cider vinegar, ground cardamom, grated ginger, some salt and black pepper.

Slice the beetroot as thin as you’d like and arrange the discs on your prettiest platter. Drizzle on the dressing and layer more beetroot.  Finish with a last drizzle of dressing, the shredded mint, some salt and black pepper.