Chimol

Chimol is originally a Salvadoran dish, more precisely a chopped salsa made with radishes. I found the recipe on Tea & Cookies and I thought it looked simple and very summery. I was also intrigued by it because I didn’t grow up eating a lot of radishes (I’m not sure if they were hard to find where we lived or if my family just wasn’t big on them). I’m looking for new ways to incorporate vegetables in my diet, so I gave this a go. I used lime juice instead of lemon juice because somehow, it just seemed more logical in the moment. And my herb garden came in handy, because that’s where I got the fresh cilantro. My verdict? Chimol is awesome, fresh and original. I love it!

I served it first with chicken fajitas, then with ground beef fajitas. For the latter, I made my own taco seasoning for the meat using this recipe. I thought it was really great, but I recommend halving it to avoid having leftovers (and yet one more spice jar in your rack!). Chimol is also good simply with meat like thinly sliced flank steak. This recipe makes 2 big servings, but I made a bit more and got several meals out of it by using it as a fajita topping.

½ cup radish, chopped in medium fine dice
½ cup tomato, chopped in medium fine dice
¼ cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
¼ cup finely chopped red onion
1 Tbsp fresh lemon (or lime) juice, or to taste
3 pinches salt, or to taste

Just mix and serve.

And for those of you who want it, here is the halved taco seasoning recipe.

½ tsp cornstarch
1 tsp chili powder
¾ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp cayenne pepper or paprika
1 tsp dried onion

Mix and use liberally to season ground beef, pork or chicken (white meat might need less seasoning).