This Chard Salad is not only colourful and tasty but it also contains a powerhouse of essential vitamins to help to boost your immunity and fight off winter colds.
The crisp rainbow chard is a nice base for the creamy avocado, sweet mandarins and the zesty mandarin lime vinaigrette while the seeds add a nice crunch to this salad. This is a great salad if you are looking for an alternative to coleslaw.
More on chard
Chard is also known as Swiss chard but has nothing to do with Switzerland ??♀️. The white stalks are also known as silverbeet. When a variety of brightly coloured stalks are bunched together they are called rainbow chard (they can be white, yellow, red, purple, pink).
Chard is a cousin to beetroot or beets with the obvious difference being that chard is a leafy green vegetable and beets are a root vegetable. Chard leaves are mild, sweet, earthy and just slightly bitter while the stalks are ribbed like celery and are tougher with an earthy, astringent taste reminiscent of beets.
What can I use instead of rainbow chard?
If you are unable to find colourful rainbow chard you can easily replace it with silverbeet, beetroot leaves or kale or red kale if you can find it.
Preparing chard
I prepare the stalks and leaves separately. First, wash your chard well under cold running water and pat dry. Cut off the stalks and slice them as thin as possible, then roughly shred the leaves.
Other substitutions you can make
- Mandarins - you can replace them with any other citrus that takes your fancy - oranges, pomelos or even with ruby red grapefruit if you like its tart taste.
- Coriander (Cilantro) - can also be replaced with any soft herb that you would prefer such as mint, tarragon, fennel or dill.
- Seeds - replace the seeds with any nuts you have in your cupboard but I would roast them and crush them first.
How to make chard salad
- Wash the rainbow chard well, cut off the bottom of the stems and remove any damaged leaves. Spin the leaves of the rainbow chard in a salad spinner to remove the excess water.
- Finely dice the stems and chiffonade the leaves, place in a large mixing bowl.
- Peel the mandarins, separate into segments, remove the pith, cut in half lengthwise and remove any seeds you come across. Place with the rainbow chard.
- Wash the coriander (cilantro) leaves and shake to remove the excess water then pat dry with a towel, roughly chop and add to your bowl.
- Place all the vinaigrette ingredients in a glass jar and shake until emulsified.
- Peel the avocados, remove the seeds, then chop roughly then place in the bowl and add the seeds.
- Pour the vinaigrette over the salad, season with salt and pepper and mix until well combined. Taste and adjust seasonings according to your taste.
- Peel the extra mandarin and slice into rounds. Arrange the salad in a salad platter, place the mandarin slices around the platter, scatter the seeds and coriander on top to garnish. Serve immediately.
Some Tips for making Chard Salad
- As chard has a tendency to brown I would wait to cut it 1-2 hours before serving.
- The mandarin can be prepared the day before and stored covered in your fridge until you are ready to assemble the salad.
- If your mandarins are too tart add some honey or maple syrup to the dressing.
- You can make the dressing a day before and store it in a covered containing in your fridge.
- Chiffonade is a slicing technique where leafy green vegetables and herbs such as spinach, basil, sorrel, etc. are cut into long, thin strips. To do this stack the leaves on top of each other, gently roll them into a cigar, and then use a sharp knife to slice them into thin ribbons.
Some serving ideas
This is a great all-round winter salad that pairs well with chicken, beef, pork, fish, sausage, beans, pasta and rice dishes. We served ours with a pork belly roast. But you could also try it with:
- For a fancy dinner try it with the Perfect Roast Beef
- As a vegan option try Vegan Chilli Con Carne
- For a quick family dinner serve it with Sausages with Onion Gravy
Equipment
- Salad Spinner
Ingredients
- 1 bunch rainbow chard (400 grams)
- 4 mandarins (360 grams)
- 2 avocados
- 1 cup coriander (cilantro) leaves
- 4 tbsps toasted mixed seeds1
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper
- ¼ cup lime juice
- ¼ cup mandarin juice
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 mandarin
- 2 tbsps coriander leaves
- 1 tbsps toasted mixed seeds1
Instructions
- Wash the rainbow chard well, trim and pat dry. Finely dice the stems and chiffonade* the leaves, place in a large mixing bowl.
- Finely dice the stems and chiffonade the leaves, place in a large mixing bowl.
- Peel your mandarins, remove the pith and seeds, separate them into segments then cut them in half lengthways and add to your bowl.
- Wash and dry your coriander (cilantro) roughly chop then place with the rainbow chard and mandarin.
- Peel the avocados, remove the seeds, then chop roughly then place in the mixing bowl. Add the seeds.
- Add all the vinaigrette ingredients in a glass jar and shake until emulsified.
- Pour the vinaigrette over the salad, season, add the seeds and toss until well combined. Taste and adjust seasonins.
- Peel the extra mandarin and slice into rounds. Arrange the salad in a salad platter, place the mandarin slices around the platter, scatter the seeds and coriander on top to garnish. Serve immediately.
Notes
- I used pepitas, sunflower seeds, linseeds, sesame seeds.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.
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