Avocado, Persimmon and Beet Tartare
While I love vegan cheese and elaborately baked pastries, I also really enjoy dishes of simply prepared vegetables. This dish is just that, albeit with a crisp and colorful presentation. This vegan beet tartare is composed of three layers: first, a rich purple beet layer, peppered with sesame seeds, second, the orange-red persimmons, with fresh mint and black pepper, thirdly, a layer with smooth creamy avocado, crisp cucumber, and fresh cilantro. To top it all off, a simple ginger, lime and sesame dressing seasons every layer. Eat with chips, bread, or alone for a delicious salad for two.
Skip the Post, Click for a Print-Friendly Recipe
What is Tartare?
While I’d heard of tuna tartare and beef tartare, I’m an almost life-long vegetarian and had pretty much no idea what those foods were. I had only the vague idea that they reminded me of cat food out of the can- not the most appealing image right before I share a tartare recipe with you, I know. Sorry about that, but my imagery is not about to improve. You were warned. Tartare is typically made from fish or meat, ground or chopped very finely, and served raw. It was originally a way of making tougher cuts of meat edible, and although beef is now the most popular variety, original tartare would have been made from horse or camel. With the dangers in eating raw meat becoming more known and prevalent, foodborne illness has become another great reason not to eat a traditional tartare.
But you can still enjoy the experience, with a series of more diverse and interesting flavors. Turn to raw vegetables and experience them for what they are, minimally flavored and delicious. We did cook our beets in this recipe- you don’t have too, but just as a matter of preference we like the smoother, silkier texture of cooked beet. In the end, the choice is yours!
How Should I eat Vegan Tartare?
That’s up to you- sometimes I’ve eaten this vegan tartare straight up, with the dressing and it’s delicious. Each individual layer tastes great on its own, they all taste delicious together, and they’re tasty both with and without the ginger lime dressing. But when I eat this much avocado, I like to have a little bit of carbohydrate with it. So I prefer to eat my tartare with corn chips, or freshly sliced bread, or a nice seeded cracker.
Looking for Raw Vegetables? Try one of these recipes!
- Hibiscus Flower and White Bean Vegan Tostadas
- Wood Sorrel, Jicama, and Beet Slaw
- Heirloom Tomato Summer Watermelon Salad
- Fennel and Apple Salad in Belgian Endive Cups
- Hearty Bean Dinner Salad with Sun Dried Tomato Dressing
- Bouquet of Roses Beet & Radish Salad Pizza
- Massaged Chard Salad with Flax, Pumpkin Seeds and Golden Raisins
- Spiralized Radish Thai Noodle Salad (Yum Woon Sen)
Eating with your Eyes- It’s all about color!
I come up with my recipes in different ways. Lots of the time, I have a specific flavor and texture I want to achieve- I’m inspired by some dish I had in the past, and try to recreate it. Other times I have an ingredient I want to highlight, so I start there and think my way to a dish. Sometimes I really just like the way a name of a dish sounds, and hope I can make the flavors go together as well as the words did. But this dish was all about the colors. I just happened to have avocadoes and persimmons in my kitchen, and thinking about the avocados green, creamy flesh and the persimmons deep orange color together was giving me life. Then I remembered- I had just ordered 10 lbs. of beets from a local farm. Ten pounds of dark purple goodness. As I worked with this avocado, persimmon, and beet tartare, I tweaked the flavors and the presentation, but I made sure to keep the colors beautiful and pure- a feast for the eyes.
Making Vegan Avocado, Persimmon, and Beet Tartare
There are really only two tricks in getting this recipe right, so let’s dig in.
- Taste and season every layer individually. The layers will compliment each other, but make sure you start off with layers that taste good on their own. Depending on your taste buds and the size of your vegetables, you may want more or less spices, herbs and flavors, so take it slow and compose a masterpiece for your palette.
- Presentation matters. While taste is obviously the most important thing, presentation is pretty important with this dish to achieve the desired “wow” effect. Use an acetate sheet or food safe plastic to make a cylinder mold, and gently press the layers over each other. The distinct layers not only make the avocado, persimmon, and beet tartare look good, but it makes it so you can taste each of them individually too.
So what are you waiting for? Get layering!
Avocado, Persimmon and Beet Tartare
Ingredients
- 1 medium-sized beet
- 1 tsp. sesame seeds
- 1 fuyu persimmon
- 3-4 mint leaves
- Black pepper, to taste
- 1 ripe avocado
- 2-inch piece of cucumber (about 3-4 ounces)
- A few sprigs of cilantro
- Salt, to taste
- Small chunk of ginger, peeled (about 10 grams)
- 1 ½ limes (divided)
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- 2 tbsp. + 1 tsp. olive oil (divided)
- 1 tsp. agave nectar
- ½ tsp. chili powder
Instructions
- For the Beet Layer: Bring a pot of water to a boil, with enough water to fully cover your beet, and reduce to a simmer. Cook until a fork can easily pierce the beet (about 30 minutes). Once the beet is cooked, run under cold water and rub off the skin. Let cool until you can handle it, and grate on the large side of the grater. Place in a bowl, and mix with sesame seeds, 1 tsp. olive oil, and salt to taste. Set aside.
- For the Persimmon Layer: Skin the persimmon, and chop into very small cubes. Chop the mint leaves up very finely. Place in a mixing bowl with a few grinds of fresh ground black pepper, mix, and set aside.
- For the Avocado Layer: Chop the cucumber into very small cubes. Add to a mixing bowl, along with the cilantro, roughly chopped stems and all. Cut the avocado and scoop out both halves. Add the juice of ½ lime, along with salt to taste. Mix with your hands, mashing the avocado a little. Set aside.
- For the Dressing: Mix the ginger, juice of 1 lime, 2 tbsp. olive oil, agave nectar, chili powder, and salt to taste in a blender, and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Assembly: Make a cylinder with food-safe acetate sheets that is about 2.5 inches in diameter and 4 inches high. Make sure you have something flat (like the lid of a jar) that fits inside the cylinder. For an extra neat presentation (free of beet juice), assemble on a cutting board- if you’re less picky, assemble directly on the serving plate. Add half the beet mixture to into the cylinder, and tamp flat with your lid or flat object. Next place half the persimmon mixture, and tamp flat again. Finally, half the avocado mixture, making sure to flatten off the top well. If you assembled on a cutting board, use a thin spatula to slide underneath the cylinder and move to your serving plate. Remove from the cylinder by placing the jar lid on top of the avocado layer and holding it in place while you pull the cylinder over the tartare. Repeat for a second tartare, and serve with the dressing. Eat as is, or serve with bread, crackers, or chips.
Click for a Print-Friendly Recipe
Like this Beet Tartare? Pin it!
2 thoughts on “Avocado, Persimmon and Beet Tartare”