Jicama and Beet Slaw

If you have been following us, you know that we post a weird vegetable recipe every Wednesday (#weirdvegwednesday).  Jicama is a root vegetable similar to a potato or yam but actually is in the bean family.  After you get through the brown exterior, the edible interior is a white flesh.  It is crisp like a pear or apple and has a sweet flavor to it.  Jicama is a great source of fiber and vitamin C.  The fiber in Jicama also helps with digestion and has a prebiotic effect to it.  We usually eat it raw but it can be cooked in stir fry or soups.  It is great for salads or in this case we made a slaw out of it.  

Ingredients

2 cups jicama, cut into matchsticks
2 cups cooked beets, cut into matchsticks
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp stone ground mustard with whole mustard seeds
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. We got our beets pre-cooked, but if you buy fresh beets, I would suggest roasting them in the oven like you were baking a potato.  Depending on size, it should take 30-45 minutes at 400 degrees.  You could also boil them too if you are in a hurry.
   
2. I used our mandolin to slice the jicama and beets into 1/8″ matchsticks.  If you don’t have a mandolin hopefully you have a sharp knife and some skills.  Your beets are going to bleed so try to keep the two ingredients separate for as long as possible.  
3. In a separate bowl, mix together your dressing, all the ingredients besides the beets and jicama.  
4. Due to the fact that you are dealing with a white vegetable and beets, if you want to keep your slaw from turning pink for presentation sake only, I would recommend dressing the jicama only, then either fold in the beets very carefully.  Or you could combine the two as you plate, a little jicama, then some beets, and repeat.  If you just want to eat this goodness and could care less about presentation, go ahead and mix it all together.