During Navaratri, I get invited to several homes to see Kolu and for Haldi-Kumkum. One of the side effects of this is the number of betel leaves and fruits that accumulate at home. I normally give away the betel leaves to my maid. Last year I made Paan Shots with some of them. Yesterday I tried this adapted this Bai Chaplu Salad and tried it with Betel leaves.
Bai Cha Plu is a wild pepper leaf found in Thailand and Vitenam. It is also sometimes called Wild Betel Leaf.
What did I like about this salad?
- First there was the multiple levels of crunch; from the betel leaf itself, from the peanuts, and from the carrot. Fun while munching. 🙂
- Then there was the dressing which incorporated such a medley of flavours; tamarind, lime, palm sugar, and soy. The explosion of myriad tastes in the mouth was fun.
- Then there was the spice from the Thai Red Chillies and from the betel leaf itself.
All in all a memorable experience. I am going to experiment with using the wonderful dressing on other salads. I quite fell in love with it.
Serves: 2
Time: 10 Minutes
Ingredients
- Betel Leaves – 16-20
- Mint Leaves – A Handful
- Shredded Carrot – 1/4 Cup
- Roasted Peanuts – 1/4 Cup
- Thai Red Chillies – 2 (These are very hot so watch out)
- Palm Sugar – 1 tbsp
- Tamarind Extract – 3/4 tsp
- Lime Juice – 1 tbsp
- Light Soy Sauce – 1 tsp
Method to Make the Dressing
- Mix together the palm sugar, tamarind extract, lime juice, and soy sauce.
- Mix well till the sugar dissolves.
Method to Make the Betel Leaf Salad
- Cut the betel leaves into 1/2″ pieces.
- Lightly crush the roasted peanuts.
- Lightly bruise the mint leaves.
- Chop the Thai Red Chillies into fine pieces.
- Mix together the betel leaves, mint leaves, shredded carrot, peanuts and red chillies.
- Drizzle the dressing over it.
- Enjoy!
When I read the beetle leaf salad, I read it again to confirm..
The salad has all my Fav ingredients. And wow really wow on your take of using beetle leaf in salad form.
You don’t know how many Betel leaves I get, Sonal. It is a shame to throw them out.
Do try this with lettuce. Dressing is awesome
Nice way finish the leaves we buy for Pooja
Aruna,
You are a genius for using the betel leaves for a salad! I had never thought of this. Plus they are so good for digestion, right?
That salad dressing combo is my favorite too- it is so addictive isn’t it?
Thank you, Sandhya! I was tired of chewing betel leaves and so this recipe. 😀
I end up using betel leaves for kashayam. Love this n also ur paan shot. Gonna try that out soon.
I am going to try Paan Icecream next!
Hi,
I read your all recipes and all recipes are awesome!This recipe is also very nice. I’ll try it.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe.
Thank you…. I hope to see you more often on the blog. 🙂
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