Sorrel salad recipe is not a common summer salad, but yet one that can refresh your palette from time to time. This salad is made with white sweet potatoes, avocado, tomatoes, and basil, and drizzled with a mustard vinaigrette. Sorrel comes in different shapes and colours.

In Congo where I grew up, they will either be red or green. These herbs have an acidic taste to them that can remind you of lemon. I have recently tasted for the first time ever the raw leaves, and they were very good, surprisingly! Since I was young, I have always eaten them cooked. We would boil them with very little water until they were wilted. Then we smashed them with a wooden spoon. You could add anything: dry fish, onions, tomatoes, palm oil with a little bit of water; sorrel go very well with dry fish and fufu. The taste is incredible. It is one of my favourite dishes to eat.

Now, let’s go back to the recipe.

Where can I find sorrel leaves?

These leaves are not popular in America, but you can find them at your local farmer’s market or at an international grocery store. They are well known in the Caribbean, Asia and Africa. Commonly called sour sour leaves or ngayi ngayi in Africa, these herbs are loved for their acidity.

I got fresh ones as you can see above from my local farmer. I removed the leaves from the stems and chopped them. I only use one bunch since a little will go a long way.

Do I have to use white sweet potatoes?

No. You do not have to use white sweet potato. It is a personal preference. They have a drier texture and are less sweet than the orange sweet potato.

You can find the white sweet potato at your local grocer or in an Asian food market.

I peeled my sweet potato and diced it. Make sure that they stay in salted water to prevent them from oxidation. Potatoes contain starch, which oxidizes once exposed to oxygen. If they do so, no worries. They will still be edible but will have a greyish colour.

I put the potatoes on a baking sheet. They should be single layered and in the oven for 20-25 min until they are soft and have a gold colour to them.

Once baked, let them cool off before touching them. They will come off the baking sheet easily.

What are the other ingredients?

sorrel salad with bowls of basil, tomatoes, sweet potatoes

Basil is KEY in this salad. Otherwise, the salad will be too acidic. Hence, you won’t enjoy it as much. The softness from the basil is necessary to balance the sorrel salad.

I added tomatoes since they bring so much colour and they are always a great combination to basil.

I love adding avocados to my salad. It brings so much texture and just smoothes everything out in the mouth.

What dressing did I use for this salad?

I used a basic vinaigrette made with mustard, honey, white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil which goes perfectly with this sorrel salad.