Radish Cilantro Salsa

 

I wanted to make this chunky salsa back when radishes were new in the market. They start appearing when it’s still too cold to even think of summer vegetables, so they’re exciting. Of course, I didn’t have enough, or perhaps any, cilantro growing in my patio herb garden yet, so I decided to wait. Luckily, now that I have buckets of cilantro, a second crop of radishes, and even a lot of daikon radishes are in the farmer’s market, so it was a good time to try this out.

This condiment/snack has the potential to be rather assertive, what with all the radishes involved, but I found they were well tamed by lots of cilantro, some green onions, a dab of honey, and lime. I used both red radishes and daikon, and it does take some time to dice them small enough to make something spoonable or scoopable. I found it was worth the effort, though, for the zesty crunchy salsa that results.

 

So far, I’ve just been eating this stuff with chips, but I think it would be great served anywhere you like a chunky salsa or pico de gallo, like on this tostada, in any taco, or on a plate of nachos. It might also be good tossed with salad greens, or noodles. My first batch won’t last long enough to try most of those ideas, of course. I’ll have to keep making it (along with this similar recipe) to perk up simple dishes all summer long.

Radish Cilantro Salsa

Based on a recipe in Naturally Nourished by Sarah Britton

1 ½ cups finely diced radishes, any variety

½ cup finely chopped green onion

½ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon finely minced fresh chile pepper

Zest and juice of 1 lime, plus more juice to taste

1 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium-size bowl and toss well to coat. Taste for salt and acid, and add more salt or lime juice as needed. Serve as you would pico de gallo or salsa.

Makes about 2 cups.

Other recipes like this one: Cucumber Salsa with Cilantro and Mint, Tomato and Cucumber Pico d Gallo