Celeriac Mango and Guava Salad

Who would have thought a knobby, ugly root vegetable, sweet tropical fruits and a nasal clearing infused dressing could be so good? This Guava Salad is no simple flavour combination and you’ll be surprised how fantastic it tastes!

Why I Love Celeriac Mango and Guava Salad

Don’t you love it when it’s mango season?

Love all the different varieties, shapes and sizes. And more importantly, they are so cheap! Sometimes my local supermarket will sell an entire tray of 12 mangos of which I eat some, use some for salads and then chop up the rest and freeze them for summer smoothies.

If you love green mango, then this Thai Green Mango Salad with Salty Tamarind Dressing would be perfect for you.

I love transforming what is essentially more of a fruit salad into a savoury recipe.

This vegetarian celeriac recipe combined with the sweetness and nasal clearing horseradish is a combination difficult to reconcile in your head. But when you put it all together, it is so yum! Trust me!

What is Celeriac?

Celeriac is also commonly known as celery root. It has also known to be called turnip-rooted celery or knob celery.

Calling this vegetable celery root confused me to no end because although celery root and celery are technically members of the same family, celery root is NOT the root of the vegetable celery.

This vegetable is grown for their root rather than their stalks or leaves.

What Does Celeriac Look Like?

Celeriac truly is one ugly looking vegetable. It is light brown in colour and this bulb-type root is ugly and knobby.

My partner, Andrew, had never seen a celeriac in its original form and when he opened the fridge, he wanted to know what that “horrendous growth” was. When I told him, it was celeriac and I was making a salad with it, his response was “we EAT that thing??”

Celeriac comes in varying sizes from something as small as an apple right through to as large as a small rock melon. They are usually sold without their leaves and stalks in supermarkets.

After peeling, the celeriac has a white opaque flesh.

What Does Celeriac Taste Like?

The flavours of the celeriac are quite unique. It can be described as having a strong celery flavour crossed with a hint of parsley.

It is also a little nutty. The texture of the celeriac resembles that of a potato.

What is Guava?

Guava is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. Growing up in Malaysia, I ate white guava more than I ate apples. It was easy to find and available all year round.

White guava has a thin green outer skin which is slightly bitter and rough to touch. The flesh of the guava is white whilst the seeds or pulp is a very light brown.

The entire fruit can be eaten but the seeds are a bit hard and can hurt your teeth a little so I cut them away or scoop them out.

The taste of the guava is a cross between a strawberry and a pear. It is crunchy when it is less ripe and progressively gets softer the more ripe they become. Like most fruits, I’m a crunchy fruit eater so I tend to eat them as soon as possible.

Fresh guava recipes are my absolute favourite hence I created this salad recipe to showcase a fruit that reminded me so much of my childhood.

Why Is It Called Horseradish?

Nope, horses did not discover this nose-clearing root vegetable.

According to horseradish.org (yes there is entire organisation dedicated to horseradish LOL), this is what they believe the etymology of the word is:

The word horseradish is believed to have originated in Central Europe, the area also linked to the most widely held theory of how horseradish was named. In German, it’s called “meerrettich” (sea radish) because it grows by the sea.

Many believe the English mispronounced the German word “meer” and began calling it “mareradish.” Eventually it became known as horseradish. The word “horse” is believed to denote large size and coarseness. “Radish” comes from the Latin radix meaning root.

A little far fetched? Perhaps but still fun to know nonetheless!

How to Make Celeriac Mango and Guava Salad

How to Prepare the Mango

Peel the skin off the mango. Cut the mango down the side as close to the pit as possible. Do the same for the opposite side.

Then lay the cut mango flat on the chopping board and slice them evenly about 3-5 mm in width. Set aside.

How to Prepare the Apple

Leave the skin on for the red apple as we want the red to add to the colour of the skewer.

Cut and slice as per mango above. Submerge the sliced apple in a bowl of salted water to keep it from turning brown.

How to Prepare the Guava

Peel the skin off the guava and cut one side and slice as per mango above.

Try to remove as much of the seeds as possible as although they are small and edible, they are hard and can hurt your teeth.

How to Prepare the Celeriac

Peel or cut the skin off the celeriac. A celeriac does not have a core or pit so cut them in half. Slice as per mango to about 3-5 mm in width. Depending on the size of the celeriac, you may only need half of it.

Place the slices in water with lemon juice to stop it from browning any further.

How to Make the Salad Skewers

Remove the sliced apples and celeriac from the water and pat them dry.

Cut the skewers to about 15 cm in length.

The order of the fruit and vegetable is mango, celeriac, mango, apple, guava.

Repeat until you get to the end of the skewer. This will give it the colour consistency we’re after and to provide a little more sweetness with more mango.

You will find that the fruit and vegetables will be of varying sizes. We only want the top part to look somewhat even.

When you skewer, to lower the fruit, pierce it higher and for a fruit to appear higher, pierce it lower. That way it will all end up even on the top.

How to Make Horseradish Dill Dressing

This mango salad dressing is super easy! Chop the dill roughly and then mix it through with the horseradish cream and sour cream.

If you have never used horseradish cream, you can find it in the mustard section of your supermarket.

It is such a versatile ingredient to amp up your salad dressings such as this Horseradish Mayonnaise Dressing for our Creamy Beef Sausage and Crunchy Roast Potato Salad.

How to Assemble the Guava Salad

On your serving plate, place 4 sprigs of dill to one side.

Place the 4 skewers on top of the dill. You can place them at angles, on top of one another or anyway you wish just as long as the fronds of dill are peeking through.

Serve the dressing in a bowl to the side. You can even make one small bowl per person.

Sprinkle from a height some chopped dill, salt and pepper.

Serve immediately.

If you’re wondering why I used skewers for this recipe, my answer would simply be “why not”? It’s perfect for that special occasion, if you’re looking for a different way to present your salads.

I think the colours are gorgeous and Sammy said they are like fruit kebabs! Oh, and that mango salad dressing with the horseradish … to die for!

That’s all!

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