Creamy Kohlrabi Salad Recipe – Great using Broccoli Slaw as well!
2013
This creamy kohlrabi salad recipe is a wonderful blend of crisp, creamy, light, yet rich and sweet. yet abundant in vegetables. It makes a perfect side dish to many meals, and wonderful to bring for a pot luck. I love to change up meals with different side salads. This delicious salad is similar to coleslaw, but presents a wonderful change in flavor and texture.
This salad can also be made using the currently popular broccoli slaw, peeled and shredded broccoli stems. It also can be made with shredded cabbage and carrots to more closely resemble coleslaw if desired and if kohlrabi is not available.
This kohlrabi salad recipe is made extra nutritious with not only an abundance of vegetables but also the creamy dressing is made from a base of my favorite hemp oil mayonnaise. This mayonnaise is quick and easy to make and a wonderful vegan, nutition-rich substitute that I love to have on hand. It is versatile as a dressing as well as a spread and everything else that mayonnaise is used for.
About Kohlrabi
Kohlrabi is a cool weather vegetable that grows well in gardens in cooler climates, so great for growing locally where I am. It is a member of the cabbage family and its name comes from the German kohl, meaning cabbage, and rabi, meaning turnip. It is widely used in German speaking counties, Central Europe, Southern India and in Asia, but not commonly used or familiar yet in North or South America.
Storing
Store unwashed bulbs in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. If they are fresh, they can usually be stored for at least a week.
Peeling and cutting the Kohlrabi
The kohlrabi is quite tough and woody at the bottom where the root is. So you will want to cut a larger piece from the bottom, up to an inch on a larger kohlrabi. The top part, where the leaves grows out from is much softer. Therefore, just cut a bit from the top, enough to give you a flat surface. Then peel from top to bottom the fibrous outer coating. Sometimes it just peels away easily and you can do it with your fingers. But a small knife will help you to more easily pull it away.
The taste and texture of Kohlrabi
Inside it is tender and crisp, similar to water chestnuts, or even like a Granny Smith apple, but not as sweet or tart. The kohlrabi has a mild delicious flavor, similar to peeled tender broccoli stalks. I feel the kohlrabi is far better eaten raw, not only for its nutritional value, but also because I love its lovely crisp texture, which tends to get lost in cooking. Kohlrabi is fairly rare and more expensive vegetable generally here in Canada. However, if kohlrabi is abundant and more affordable by all means, use it to cook with. It´s lovely eaten any way. But around here, kohlrabi is generally more expensive than other mild vegetables that you could easily substitute. So, in my humble opinion, it´s best to use it where it works best, and to me, that´s eating it raw.
Kohlrabi is wonderful julienned and used for dipping. It makes a unique and lovely addition to a vegetable tray.
Keep in mind when buying that smaller kohlrabi are generally more tender and sweet.
Kohlrabi leaves are edible and can be used like collard or kale leaves. Make sure to eat these right away. You can add them to a green smoothie!
Creamy Kohlrabi Salad Recipe
Ingredients
1 Kohlrabi – outer layer peeled and spiralized or grated.
1 Green Apple – peeled and chopped
½ Red Pepper – diced small
1 Celery stalk – sliced thin
¼ cup Currants
½ cup Walnuts – chopped
2 Tbsp Red Onion – diced small
½ cup Hemp oil Mayo
1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
¼ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Black Pepper
Directions
Mix dressing of mayo, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper and set aside. Cut an inch off the bottom of the peeled kohlrabi, and a little off the top part, just enough to make a flat surface. Grate the kohlrabi. I tried to spiralize mine and was fairly successful. However I will likely grate it next time in a food processor, see note below. Place the spiralized or grated kohlrabi in a bowl and add the apple, red pepper, celery, onion, currants, walnuts and dressing. Mix all ingredients well together and it is ready to serve.
Spiralize or Grate the Kohlrabi?
The Kohlrabi was quite tough to spiralize and I was concerned about breaking the spiralizer doing it. But I didn’t, and the kohlrabi was a great texture in the salad. I sliced the long strings of kohlrabi ‘pasta’ into smaller pieces for the salad. I decided that it would have been easier grating it and I will likely grate or shred it in a food processor next time. The spiralized kohlrabi worked and turned out well, but it was a lot of effort. It would have been shredded into small pieces in seconds in a food processor.
Photo Description of making the Salad
Assemble ingredients
..and ingredients for the salad dressing.
Mix the dressing and set aside.
Peel and cut ends of kohlrabi
Spiralize (or grate) the kohlrabi.
It was a challenging job to spiralize and I had to pull apart some of the pieces. The finished product was wonderful, but it was a little more work than anticipated.
I sliced the long kohlrabi ‘noodles’ into shorter pieces for the salad.
Chop the rest of the vegetables and apple.
Transfer all ingredients to a bowl.
Mix it up and it is ready to serve. Add salt and pepper to taste.
To your health!! Enjoy!
