cumin-spiced edamame salad
The sun is shining, the birds are chirping – Spring has officially arrived to Switzerland, or at least I hope so. While the sun is blasting I’m spending my days inside the halls of Baselworld, running like a maniac from meeting to meeting snacking on cereal bars to keep me going. Writing about food is slightly torturous, as I am already at Day 3 of the fair and am officially craving homemade meals. But even though I’m running low on sleep I couldn’t leave you hanging without a recipe until I get back from Basel next Tuesday. And the truth is, ever since I prepared this salad I’ve been dying to share it with you. I couldn’t wait three days more! Once you taste it you’ll understand why.
My multi-faceted background can be seen in my kitchen daily – and even more so in this edamame salad. Usually found in Asian cuisines, edamame are made out of immature soybeans. You’ll typically find them in Japanese and Chinese restaurants, served boiled in their pods with lots of sea salt. They don’t look like much except giant peapods, but if you’ve never tried them before I urge you to do so with this recipe. In fact, you should even swap popcorn and candy for edamame to eat as a snack, as it’s a true power food packed with fiber, proteins and iron and is delicious even when eaten on its own.
The Moroccan Jews tend to serve many salads to start Shabbat meals on Friday night and Saturday lunch, and so I’m always on the lookout for creative salads to add to the lot. Although I do serve many typical dishes, I also like to include salads that are not truly Moroccan, such as guacamole or egg salad. This edamame salad was recently added to my Shabat menu, and although it is made up of an Asian ingredient, you will find a Mediterranean/Moroccan touch in it as it flavored with my favorite aromatic spice – cumin.
Cumin is widely used to spice up beans, so why not jazz up edamame with it as well, given that they are technically beans too? I combined edamame with green onion, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and parsley, which I finely chopped to a size smaller than the beans. I dressed the whole salad with a lemon, olive oil and cumin dressing, merging Asian and Mediterranean cuisines into one recipe. Our guests loved it so much and so did Jon, who requested that I prepare it more often – and not only for Shabat!
- 350g frozen edamame, out of the pod
- 3 big pinches of fleur de sel
- 1 ½ tablespoons chopped green onion
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 5 tablespoons chopped cucumber
- 4 cherry tomatoes, chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ⅛ teaspoon cumin
- Pepper, to taste
- Bring a small saucepan of water to boil. When boiling, add the edamame and boil for 3 minutes until soft. Drain edamame in a colander, move to a mixing bowl and mix in the fleur de sel. Let cool.
- Add the green onion, parsley, cucumber and tomatoes to the bowl of edamame.
- In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and pepper. Pour dressing over the vegetables, mix to combine. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve. Serve at room temperature.
How did your cumin-spiced edamame salad come out? Share photos of your recipe on Instagram by tagging #savormania