Have you ever eaten cacti? Nopalitos are so good! This easy, budget-friendly salad is a classic Mexican cactus salad with chopped prickly pear cacti (nopalitos), tomatoes, onions, and radishes.
Have you ever eaten cacti? Prickly pear cacti, known as nopalitos, are not only edible, they’re pretty darn delicious! Kind of a cross between green beans and okra, and good for you too, high in vitamin A, calcium, potassium and plenty of fiber. Perfect for those of us who want to eat paleo, vegan, gluten free or low carb.
As with okra, cooking produces some slime factor, but this is easily rinsed off.
You can either buy the young paddles whole and then prepare them by wearing thick gloves and gently scraping off the sharp spines, or you can do what most of us do and buy them already de-quilled and chopped. You can even buy them already canned.
You can find freshly chopped nopalitos already prepared and packaged at any Mexican market.
Like green beans and okra, nopalitos love being paired with tomatoes and onions. This classic Mexican salad is something like a hearty pico de gallo mixed with nopalitos.
Serve as a side to steaks or other Mexican dishes, or delight your vegan friends with this salad as a taco filling!
Nopalitos Cactus Salad
If you’re using canned nopalitos, simply drain and toss with the tomatoes and remaining ingredients. They don’t need to be cooked as they are already cooked.
ingredients
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1 pound (450 G) freshly chopped nopalitos
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1 pound cherry tomatoesquartered (approx 3 cups)
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1 Cup chopped red radishes
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1 Cup finely chopped Red onion
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3 tablespoon lime juice
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1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
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1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
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1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
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1/2 Cup chopped coriander
method
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Blanch and rinse Nopalitos:
Bring a medium-sized pot of salted water to a boil. Add the nopalitos, bring them back to the boil and cook for 1 minute. Pass through a fine sieve. Rinse with water for 1 minute.
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Mix with the remaining ingredients:
Place the rinsed and drained nopalitos in a bowl with the chopped tomatoes, radishes, and onions. Mix in the lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Fold in the coriander.
Links:
Health Benefits of Nopales from Organic Facts
Cactus and Corn Salsa here on Simply Recipes
Tomato and Onion Nopalitos here on Simply Recipes
How to cook cactus paddles from Mexico in my kitchen
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 67 | calories |
| 3g | Fat |
| 11g | carbohydrates |
| 2g | protein |
