Polish Beet Salad – Buraczki zasmażane

Polish Beet Salad aka Buraczki zasmazane, is a very traditional and delicious addition to a dinner. Preparing beet salad is very simple, can be made with just few ingredients and it is one of the most popular add-ons to any Polish dinner. The beet salad is a perfect side dish for Polish meat cutlets, pork chops or schnitzel.

Ingredients:

2 lbs (1 kg) beetroot
a flat spoon of wheat flour
2 teaspoons sugar
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
pinch of salt

Directions:

First, wash the beetroots without peeling the skins. Boil them in water for about 1 hour or until soft. You can check with a fork whether they are done. Once the beets are cooked, remove them from the water and set aside for a few minutes to cool slightly.

You can also bake the beets. Dry the raw beetroots with a paper towel and wrap each piece separatly in aluminum foil. Place the beets on the baking sheet or another dish that protects the oven from possible leakage of beetroot juice. Set the oven to 390 degrees (200 C) and bake them for about 60-90 minutes. When the beetroots are soft, carefully remove the foil and put them on a plate to cool down, then peel them off.

Regardless of whether the beets were boiled or baked, I recommend peeling them while they are still quite warm. It is worth putting on plastic kitchen gloves when peeling and grating so you don’t stain the skin with beetroot juice. The skin of the cooked beets comes off by itself by lightly scraping it off with a knife.

Next, grate the peeled beets on a box grater with larger holes.

Preheat a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat. Spread a drop of cooking oil on the surface of the hot pan and add grated beets. Season with sugar, salt and lemon juice and mix all together.

Next add a flour and mix the beets thoroughly. Fry it for about 5 minute. Check the taste and add more salt or sugar if needed. Ready beets should have a sweet and sour taste.