Ensalada de Nopalitos (Cactus Salad)

Have you tried nopalitos? I like them chopped up in scrambled eggs and also fried with potatoes. My gardener doesn't care for them, so when he went out of town a few weeks ago, I decided to make this cactus salad and eat to my heart's content.

Putting this salad together is as easy as chopping up some vegetables and mixing them with a vinaigrette. I started with green onions, radishes, garlic, tomato, bell pepper and corn. I like avocado in this salad, but the avocado I had wasn't quite ripe.

I topped some tamales with some of this salad and also spooned some over a fried egg for breakfast. The rest I ate with corn chips and found that it makes a perfectly good chunky salsa. Be sure to rinse the nopalitos well under cold, running water. They have a tendency to be slimy, somewhat like cooked okra.

PRINT RECIPE

Ensalada de Nopalitos (Cactus Salad)
6 green onions, sliced
3 radishes, sliced then quartered
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup corn
1-1/2 cups nopalitos, drained, rinsed and cut into 1/2" dice 
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Cotija or Feta cheese


Place all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.


Dressing:
3 T olive oil
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T lime juice


Whisk dressing ingredients together and pour over salad. Cover salad and refrigerate until well chilled. To serve, top with crumbled Cotija or Feta cheese.