This raw vegetable snack is a nutritious, colourful and vitamin-rich starter.

Crudités (“raw” in French) is the name given to a range of traditional appetisers and starters in French cuisine which are based on raw vegetables. They are simple, fresh and healthy preparations that serve as an appetiser, for snacking between meals, or for an impromptu dinner.

A snack based on crudités contains minerals and other essential components for the organism that are preserved intact in vegetables and raw vegetables. Moreover, they contain more than 90% water and are low in fat and carbohydrates, helping to keep us trim, hydrating us and ensuring quick digestion.

In this regard, eating 5 pieces of different fruit and vegetables a day can improve circulation and look after our heart, improve our defences and prevent diseases.

How to prepare crudités

1. Choose the vegetables carefully: select fresh, seasonal ingredients and bright colours. It is better to opt for vegetables that are crunchy to eat and do not oxidise once sliced, such as carrots, tomatoes, peppers, celery, small radishes and lettuce hearts. Aubergines, artichokes, green beans, pumpkin and turnips work less well as they are generally quite tough.
2. Slicing: carrots and celery in strips, endives in three pieces, and peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, beetroot and cucumbers in rings or slices… Slice them into finger food which can be eaten in one or two bites.
3. Presentation: choose a large, flat dish to place all the vegetables in. Combine colour and space, using the contrast between the green vegetables and the tomatoes, beetroot, kidney beans, carrots, black olives, mushroom slices… It is also important to create a contrast of flavours, mixing together sweet vegetables such as carrots, with spicier ones such as radishes, or more intense flavours such as asparagus.
4. Prepare the sauce: add a little salt, black pepper and lemon to all the sliced vegetables. Then prepare some dipping sauces in small bowls: Roquefort, vinaigrette, mustard, yoghurt, pesto, chutney, cheese, hummus, vegetable pâté or baba ganoush. Moreover, crudités can be served with hard-boiled egg, mayonnaise, canned tuna and/or cheese cubes.

In addition to being a healthy, vitamin-rich snack which is loaded with flavours and contrasts, this dish makes meals lighter, and also refreshes and enhances the idea many people have about raw vegetables.

A plate of crudités is a festival for the senses, thanks to its colours, the crispy sound when biting into the vegetables, the contrast of flavours, the variety of dressings...

This post is also available in: Portuguese (Portugal)