Salpicao de Legumes
Salpicao is Brazil's holiday-table salad, a cheerful tangle of shredded vegetables, fruit, and something crunchy on top, usually built on chicken and mayonnaise. This version keeps the confetti spirit and drops both: the body comes from carrot, apple, corn, peas, and celery, and the bind is a light dressing of plant yogurt, mustard, and lime. Raisins bring the sweet notes that mark the dish, plumped so they burst rather than crunch. The crowning batata palha, normally deep-fried shoestring potatoes, become oven-crisped straws you scatter on at the last minute. It is a make-ahead salad that actually improves after an hour in the fridge.
Ingredients
- 1 whole Potatoes, peeled, cut into thin matchsticks
- 2 wholes Carrots, coarsely grated
- 1 whole Apples, cored and julienned
- 3/4 cup Frozen corn, thawed
- 1/2 cup Frozen peas, thawed
- 1/3 cup Raisins
- 2 wholes Celery, thin sliced
- 2 wholes Scallions, thin sliced
- 1/2 cup Plain plant yogurt
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp Lime juice
- 3 tbsp Flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1/4 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
Method
- Rinse the potato matchsticks in cold water, pat them very dry, and spread them on a lined sheet. Bake at 425 F (220 C), tossing once, until crisp and golden, about 20 minutes. These stand in for batata palha, the fried shoestring potatoes that top every salpicao; drying them well and roasting hot gets the crunch with none of the frying oil.
- While they bake, plump the raisins in hot water for 5 minutes, then drain. A quick soak turns them from hard little pellets into soft bursts of sweetness that read through the dressing.
- In a large bowl combine the carrot, apple, corn, peas, celery, scallions, and drained raisins. Toss the apple with a little of the lime juice first so it does not brown, since the fruit is part of what makes this salad Brazilian rather than a plain slaw.
- Whisk the plant yogurt, mustard, remaining lime juice, parsley, and black pepper into a dressing and fold it through the vegetables. Yogurt and mustard build the creamy tang that mayonnaise gives the classic, with a fraction of the fat, and the mustard keeps the dressing from sliding off.
- Chill at least 20 minutes, then fold in most of the crisp potato straws and pile the rest on top just before serving. Held-back straws stay crunchy; any folded in early soften into the dressing, which is exactly what you do not want on the surface.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 175 calories, 4 g protein, 5 g fiber, 130 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
