Jicama is one of those vegetables that I buy with good intentions of using and then end up having to throw it away because I didn’t use it in time.  When I do use jicama, I usually just cut it up into strips or chips and serve it on a crudite platter or eat as a snack.

I recently had some jicama slaw as a side dish at a restaurant and decided to try some of my own.  After trying different jicama slaw recipes, I came up with this one. It is very colorful and has interesting flavors and textures. I like to add nuts and fruits to my salads and found that pistachio nut meats were a great addition. I think pepitas or sunflower seeds would work great too. (Trader Joe’s carries a wide variety of nuts at very reasonable prices, so I recommend looking for your nuts there.) Small chunks of oranges would work well too. Just go crazy with it.

Jicama slaw

Nutty Jicama Slaw

Ingredients

• 2 cups red cabbage, very thinly sliced
• 1 cup of julienned carrots
• ¾ cup of jicama, peeled and julienned
• 1 to 2 tablespoons minced cilantro leaves
• 5 green onions (bulb and white part only) chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• ¼ cup pistachio nut meats (or other nuts, such as sunflower seeds, pepitas)

Instructions

In a medium salad bowl, mix all of the produce. In a small mixing bowl, whisk the olive oil, rice vinegar, juice, salt, pepper, honey, and chili powder. Mix the dressing into the greens. Add the nuts just before serving.

~merry~