Chili Broccoli Salad
You can find this Chili Broccoli Salad 🌶🥦🥗 on the menu of Dishoom, a favorite and definitely our most visited restaurant in London. It’s crunchy, a bit spicy, fresh, juicy, and all around DE-licious! After I tasted it for the first time, I knew I wanted to recreate it, but the question was how…?? There’s a lot going on, and after, broccoli, chilis, nuts, and dates, I didn’t really know what to do next 🤔. So I bought the Dishoom cookbook hoping for a bit of guidance 📘. The recipe for the chili broccoli salad isn’t in it, but it did have a chili pomelo salad. So I started piecing things together… My next issue was that the vinaigrette consisted of 3 separate sauces combined in specific amounts. That felt overwhelming even for someone like me who really enjoys cooking. So, I took what I had, consulted with Veena, my Indian-cooking guru, and set out to create something that was doable for the average home cook. While the recipe has a bunch of ingredients, it’s quite easy and comes together quickly. I’m so excited to add this to my cooking repertoire, and my family said that they like it even more than the one from Dishoom, but I think maybe that’s the months of lockdown talking 🙄. We have a reservation in a few weeks (YAY 🥳🥳🥳 that restaurants are open again!!!), so we’ll see if this opinion holds up…Â
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Chili Brocoli Salad
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
Vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoons (60 grams) tamarind chutney (recipe below -or- While I haven’t tried it, you can probably use store-bought tamarind chutney.)
- ¼ cup + 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Tamarind Chutney (if you’re not using store-bought)
- 2 ½ tablespoons tamarind concentrate (You can find tamarind concentrate at an Indian market or Amazon. I use this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TRS-Tamarind-concentrated-paste-400g/dp/B003YNSYR6/ref=sr_1_4?crid=185I542YWRFZO&dchild=1&keywords=tamarind+concentrate&qid=1618326802&sprefix=tamarind+conc%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-4)
- ½ cup (80 grams) pitted dates (about 12 dates)
- 1 cup of water
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger (dry)
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ – ½ teaspoon red chili powder (depending on your taste for spice)
Salad
- 1 medium head (about a pound or ½ kilo 460 grams) broccoli, cut into florets
- ½ cup (80 grams) pitted dates (about 12 dates), chopped
- 2 Р3 chili peppers, seeded and minced (You can use jalape̱os or something more or less spicy depending on your taste for spice. I use a fairly mild red chili because I like the color in the salad.)
- â…“ cup (50 grams) shelled, roasted pistachios, roughly choppedÂ
- â…“ cup (40 grams) pumpkin seeds
- 20 grams fresh mint, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 20 grams fresh coriander/cilantro – leaves and stems, chopped (about 1 cup)Â
- ½ rounded cup pomegranate arles (90-100 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Fresh lime and chili flakes for serving
Instructions
Steam the broccoli florets for 3-3 ½ minutes. Remove from the pot/steamer and place it on a plate, cutting board, or in a bowl to cool.
Tamarind Chutney and Vinaigrette (above tamarind chutney recipe will make more than you need for vinaigrette so you can ½ the recipe or make the full batch and use it for marinades and other things).
- Tamarind Chutney: Place the tamarind concentrate, dates, and 1 cup of water in a small pan over medium heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the dates are very soft and the mixture has thickened. Add in the sugar and all the spices (ginger, cumin, coriander, and red chili powder) and cook for another 5 minutes. Transfer to a small food processor or blender and puree until smooth. If the mixture seems too thick to puree, you can add a bit more water.
- Vinaigrette: Combine 3 tablespoons of the tamarind chutney, the lime juice, olive oil, and salt in a small bowl. Whisk well and set aside.
Salad
- Roughly chop the broccoli and place in a large bowl. Add all the other ingredients (dates, chili peppers, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, mint, cilantro, pomegranate, and salt) and then toss with the vinaigrette.
- Serve with red chili flakes and wedges of fresh lime.