It’s my new favorite versatile vegetable and it will only be making an appearance at my local farmers market for a few more weeks. Yes, I’m continuing my love fest with Kohlrabi. These fries are so easy and ready in 25 minutes with hardly any work involved. Our fries disappeared within nanoseconds of appearing on the table.
Ingredients:
1 kohlrabi, peeled and sliced into french fry size sticks
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste
Paprika or hot chilly powder to taste
How To:
1. Preheat over to 420 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Toss the kohlrabi sticks with olive oil, salt, and paprika or chilly powder.
3. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and stick it in the oven.
4. At the halfway mark, flip the kohlrabi sticks and continue baking for the remainder of the time.
5. Remove from oven, rest for a minute at room temperature and serve with your favorite sauce or dip.
Tip: I served mine with a quick dip made by mixing two tbsps of mayonnaise (you can use the vegan kind), with a sprinkle of salt and a nice sprinkle of berbere.
Yes, you might say that for someone who cooks often, I’ve been living under a rock. I had never tasted kohlrabi and while I had spotted it at farmers’ markets, I had never adventured to cook with it. But all that changed with a recent discovery – that it is a versatile vegetable that is low in carbs.
“What does it taste like?”, I asked my favorite farmer. She said it had the slight spiciness of a radish married with the crispness of a green apple. I proceeded to buy a bunch and cautiously tasted a slice. The taste and the texture translated into my aha moment – this might be a good low carb substitute for potatoes in any number of dishes, enabling my husband to indulge in a version of some of his favorite high carb foods.
The stew that I created is a favorite from my childhood days. Dad and mom made this concoction of ginger, green chilies, potatoes, onions and coconut milk which was the perfect accompaniment to steamed rice or fresh bread. Out went the potatoes and in came the kohlrabis to make their debut in this simple, yummy comfort food which turned out to be a big hit.
Ingredients:
3 medium-sized farm fresh kohlrabi, skin removed and chopped into cubes
1 large red onion chopped into pieces the same size as the kohlrabi
6 green chilies, 2 finely chopped and four sliced vertically (less if you can’t tolerate heat)
1.5-inch piece ginger finely chopped
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
1 cup coconut milk
A few sprigs of curry leaves (optional)
How To:
1. Place all the ingredients except the coconut milk in a pan, cover the vegetables with water and cook covered till the kohlrabi is firm but done – a fork inserted should slide in easily, but the vegetable should retain its shape (about 15-20 minutes). At this point, there will be some water in the pan, but it will not be watery.
2. Add the coconut milk, mix gently and simmer the mixture for a few minutes.
3. Turn off the stove and wait 10 minutes before serving the stew with steamed rice or bread.
4. The result is super yum and a gift for those on a low carb diet.
Tip 1: You could also puree this and serve it as a soup and it tastes amazing, the combination of chilies and coconut milk playing a tropical dance on your tongue!
Tip 2: You could use cauliflower instead of kohlrabi for another lovely low carb version as well.
If you cook kohlrabi frequently, I’d love to hear your suggestions!
Just as we approached the holiday season, my husband made a unilateral decision (he did not check in with me) to go on the keto diet to shed a few pounds. I was horrified! Me…. the food lover whose life was filled with a kaleidoscope of textures and flavors was suddenly listening 24×7 to keto speak – high fat, low carb, not this vegetable, not that flour…..in other words enough to drive me mad! Our Costco runs ended with huge blocks of cheese and more eggs than I had ever seen in my grocery basket and our Amazon deliveries now included almond flour, coconut flour, psyllium husk and shiratake noodles. Oh and I was getting regular texts on how these ingredients could be magically converted into yummy meals in the keto universe. My world was getting torpedoed and I needed to bring back some sanity.
After being the supportive spouse for a bit, trying out new keto recipes, I came to a decision (a unilateral one). I would cook main stream meals and have a subset that was keto friendly rather than creating separate meals for all of us and taking away a source of constant joy in my life. A new normal is settling in, a stage where if coconut noodles or rice is made for dinner, my husband’s portion gets made with shiratake noodles/rice. Our favorite pesto pasta nights continue with one difference – his pasta is made with shiratake noodles. Our Indian food with rotis and veggies continues, his rotis now get made with almond flour and the vegetables are more keto friendly.
Over the next few posts, I’ll share the recipes for some of these dishes, but for now I wanted to put up a few pictures of some of these “keto” approved dishes that have enabled us to live a new level of family normal!
I’d love to hear your stories and recipes on how you might have integrated special diets into your mainstream family meals. And if you were able to do it with zero frustration, then I am even more in awe of you!
PS. If you are curious, yes the diet has worked beautifully for my husband!
a global affair 