One of Home Care Instructor Christy Narvaez’s favorite recipes is cactus salad. She adds extra veggies and even avocado and bell peppers. Christy says, “You can add more or do less. It depends on the person.”
Ingredients you will need for cactus salad. (Photos by Paul Joseph Brown)
- Category: Recipes
Ingredients
- 2 pounds cactus pads (You can buy pre-diced cactus at your grocery store or look for them at a Mexican grocery in your area)
- 4 roma tomatoes
- 1 large white onion
- 12 sprigs of cilantro
- 6 ounces ranchero cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, more if needed
Instructions
Cook the cactus:
- Cut the cactus pads into 1/4 inch x 1/2 inch pieces
- Place the cactus in a large pan and cover with 2 inches of water.
- Turn the heat on high and bring the water to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium.
- Skim the slime during cooking until the cactus no longer releases any. (About 10 minutes.)
- Drain the cactus and rinse under cool running water.
Prepare the remaining ingredients:
- Dice the onions
- Dice the tomatoes
- Finely chop the cilantro
- Crumble the ranchero cheese
- Assemble the salad by adding all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and gently turning until well-mixed.
Notes:
- The Ranchero cheese is salty. You may not need to add additional salt. Only add more after you have tasted it to avoid an overly-salty salad.
- The salad is best eaten fresh but it will keep in the fridge for two days. After that, its texture becomes unappealing.
- The salad is best eaten fresh but it will keep in the fridge for two days. After that, its texture becomes unappealing.
- You can make this vegetarian cactus salad recipe vegan by omitting the Ranchero cheese.
- You can make this vegetarian cactus salad recipe vegan by omitting the Ranchero cheese.
