Kohlrabi Som Tam Slaw
I remember the first time I learnt what a kohlrabi was many years ago. I had seen them many times in a local Turkish supermarket in East London, but only bothered to learn what they were and how to eat them when they started appearing in my weekly organic veg box.
Kohlrabi are part of the cabbage family and for someone who, as a child insisted that the stalk was the best bit of broccoli, they are an ideal vegetable! They are basically a big ball of tender broccoli stalk. You can eat them raw, grated, sliced, pickled, fried or baked. So versatile and so lovely.
This recipe is very quick and simple - I use the dressing all the time on all sorts of things - and I noticed when I was making it today, that the flavours were closely-related to one of my favourite dishes - som tam - Thai spicy green papaya salad - hence the name. Whenever I’m making an Thai inspired sauce or a dressing I think about balancing four key flavours - salty, spicy, sour and sweet. If you include ingredients to cover each of these four flavours you’re onto a winner!
Serves 2
1 kohlrabi
2 or 3 scallion greens
2 or 3 beetroot leaves (or small chard leaves)
1 teaspoon peanut butter
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sweet chilli sauce
Trim the leaves off the kohlrabi and peel it. (The leaves are just like kale or cabbage and can be shredded into the slaw or used in another dish)
Cut the kohlrabi into thin slices, then cut again to make matchsticks. Put in a large bowl. (You could grate the kohlrabi instead but hand-cut matchsticks are much nicer)
Thinly slice the scallion greens at an angle and add to the bowl.
Thinly slice the beetroot stalks, and shred the leaves finely then add these.
Make the dressing. Mix the peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce in a jar. Stir and/or shake to get the peanut butter to dissolve. Taste to check the balance of salty, sour, sweet and spicy. I normally add a little more lime juice.
Mix the dressing through the shredded veg and leave for an hour or so before eating.
(To recreate one of my favourite meals, serve with BBQ chicken and sticky rice!)
