January 4, 2023
Quick-cooking beet hash recipe
For a cozy, satisfying, simple veggie dish, check out my quick-cooking beet hash recipe. This vegetarian, egg-free recipe combines shredded beet with kohlrabi and cooks up fast!
Beet hash is a great addition to your brunch, lunch, or dinner. I enjoy eating it with rice and hummus, but it also would taste great in a burrito.
What’s beet hash?
Beet hash is a dish of sautéed shredded beets mixed with shredded kohlrabi (or other root veggies), ghee, and spices. I wasn’t able to find whether there’s a specific spice that makes a dish into a “hash”, but shredding and pan-cooking the vegetables creates a crispy exterior on the veggies that is so delicious.
Most hash recipes also use onion and garlic to add a savory element. I don’t cook with onion and garlic to help balance pitta dosha. Being onion and garlic free also makes this dish low-FODMAP friendly when consumed in moderation.
I don’t use eggs or flour in my beet hash recipe, so instead, I use a tablespoon of ground flax seed to help the beet stick together and create a more hash brown-like consistency.
The key to quick-cooking beets
Shredding or grating beets is my favorite hack for a quicker cooking beet. Beets are pretty thick and fibrous, and can take 30 minutes and up to 60 minutes to boil or bake. Shredding or grating the beets with a box grater ends up cutting the cooking time down to about 10 minutes!
Shredding the beets also provides a great texture and variety that makes this dish kid-friendly.
Beets in Āyurveda
As a root vegetable, beets are particularly balancing for vāta dosha. This vegetable has sweet and bitter taste, warming virya, and sweet vipaka. This sweetness also makes beet balancing for pitta dosha. Red beets support healthy rakta dhatu, the red blood cell tissue of the body.
Choosing between red and yellow beets
I’ve made this dish with both red and yellow beets, and it tastes great either way! Red beets tend to be a little heartier and fibrous, whereas yellow beets are a little sweeter and softer. Especially if you’re feeding kids, you might find that the stain-free and sweeter yellow beets are best for this dish.
It turns out that the nutrient profile of the red and yellow beets are similar, too. While there are different pigments in the beets that give them their red vs yellow color – these antioxidants work similarly in the body, so you’ll get the same benefits. That means you can choose your own beet adventure without fear!
Quick-cooking beet hash recipe
- 2 cups shredded beet
- 1 cup shredded kohlrabi or turnip
- 1 tbsp ghee
- ¼ tsp mineral salt
- 6 fenugreek seeds (or ⅛ tsp ground)
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- ¼ tsp celery seed
- 1 tbsp flax seed
- ¼ tsp lime juice
- Water as needed
- Heat the ghee and spices on a large frying pan.
- Once the spices are fragrant and start to dance, add the shredded beet and kohlrabi, stirring.
- Add ~1/8 cup water and flax seeds to the pan, stirring them into the beet/kohlrabi mixture.
- Use the back of a spatula to press the shredded mixture into the pan to make a patty.
- Allow the mixture to cook with a cover on slightly for ~5 minutes.
- When the beets or kohlrabi start to brown, use the spatula to flip them over (no need to keep it all in one piece).
- Cook covered for another 3-5 minutes, or until more browning has occurred.
- Turn off the heat.
- Sprinkle lime juice on top.
- Enjoy with an open and grateful heart.
Create a balanced meal with your beet hash
To make this soup into a balanced Āyurvedic meal, serve with a combination of whole grains and legumes, like a flour tortilla and black eyed peas, or rice and hummus.
Conclusion
Shredding your beets and sautéeing them in a pan is a quick and delicious way to create a dish your whole family will love. Let me know in the comments: will you be making this quick-cooking beet hash recipe? What do you want to serve it with?