Vinegret (Russian Vegetable Salad)

This week I am going to share one of my favorite healthy Russian vegetable salads called Vinegret. It consists of beets, carrots, potatoes, pickled cucumbers and peas. It is pretty basic but tasty and nutritious. 

I am a fan of beet and I really enjoy it with other vegetables.

So let's have a look at health benefits.

Inspirational Note on Health Benefits:

I have discussed health benefits of beets while speaking about the popular Russian soup - borsht (read health benefits of beets).

So let's speak about carrots in this section. So according to The Condensed Encyclopedia of Healing Foods (by Michael T. Murray, Joseph PIZZORNO, Lara Pizzorno) "Carrots are
an excellent source of antioxidant compounds that help protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer... Carrots also promote good vision, especially night vision. In fact, beta-carotene, which is present in high levels in carrots, provides protection against macular degeneration and the development of senile cataracts - the leading cause of blindness in the elderly."
Let's get started!

Preparation and 
cooking time: 
1 h 20 min-1h 50 min.
Serves: 5-8.








We will need the following vegetables:
According to the classic salad recipe all the vegetables below should be of the same weight. This time I took about 350 grams of each vegetable:
Beets
Carrots
Potatoes
Pickled Cucumbers
Canned peas


We will also need:
Vinegar - 1tbsp
Vegetable or sunflower-seed oil - to taste
Salt - to taste.


Directions:

1. Boil vegetables (beets, carrots and potatoes).

First we need to prepare vegetables for cooking. As to carrot and beet, while trimming them, leave at least 2-3 cm (1 inch) of the leaf stems attached and do not remove the root end, do not peel. Wash them.

It is better to boil vegetables separately. However, you can boil potatoes and carrots in the same pan if they are about the same size. In this case they will need approximately the same cooking time. The latter (for all vegetables) depends on the size of the root. Boil vegetables with their skins (it helps to prevent losing important nutrients).

So put them in cold water (they should be slightly covered). As to the beet, add a little bit of vinegar or lemon juice (1 tablespoon) to water to preserve its rich color. Bring water to boil and simmer vegetables (under the lid) until they're ready (beet needs about 40-50 minutes, potato – about 20-30 minutes, carrot – about 20-40 minutes). Add more water during cooking if necessary.

When vegetables are ready, let them cool placing them in cold water.

2. Peel and dice vegetables (beet, carrot and potato).

Start with the beet as it should be mixed with the vegetable or sunflower-seed oil prior combining all the ingredients in a bowl. It will help to prevent bleeding of color into other ingredients. While choosing a bowl, make sure you will be able to combine all the ingredients in it.

When you're done with beet, peel and dice carrot and potato. Now you can place them into the bowel with beet.

3. Dice pickled cucumbers. Add to the bowl.

4. Add canned peas to the bowl.

5. Mix all the ingredients gently. Add salt to taste (keep in mind that pickled cucumbers are salty). Add vegetable or sunflower-seed oil if necessary.

Enjoy!