Summer Cooking: Kohlrabi Slaw

Up until I became an enthusiastic home cook, I thought coleslaw was defined as that milky sweet stuff in a styrofoam cup from a certain fried chicken chain restaurant and only a few if any bites were eaten.  Now, I've got an all new take on "slaw".  I've made it a few times in the past and recently created a new recipe. While technically to be coleslaw it should contain cabbage, I  suppose, if asked, I'd (potentially incorrectly) broaden the definition to include earthy, grated vegetables such as beets, carrots, and now kohlrabi.

what IS this thing?! you may ask yourself...

This was my first time cooking with kohlrabi. I had never seen or heard of it until about five years ago.  I found one over the weekend at a farmstand for only 25 cents... so I decided to give it a whirl.

First, I looked for some information on it in my favorite reference cookbook for vegetables, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison.  While kohlrabi didn't have its own entry (surprisingly, because Madison's book is very thorough) it was found in the index among recipes for grated vegetable salads.  Which, if you are a purist, my recipe would be called rather than a slaw. Next, I went to my favorite visual internet resource, Foodgawker, to search for kohlrabi slaw recipes.

After searching for inspiration and some thinking about what would taste good for lunch, this is what I ended up with:

Kohlrabi Slaw aka "kohl slaw" 

or

Grated Kohlrabi, Carrot and Apple salad

2 cups raw kohlrabi, grated
2 medium sized carrots, grated
2 apples, grated
1 Tablespoon grated ginger
1/2 cup walnuts

1 teaspoon mustard
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
3-4 Tablespoons olive oil

grate kohlrabi, carrots and apples in food processor with the grating attachment, or box grater.
grate ginger using a finer grater, such as a microplane.
place vegetables, ginger and walnuts in a bowl. mix well... hands work best to get separate and combine the tiny match-stick pieces of vegetables.
in a separate bowl, mix mustard, vinegar and oil to make a dressing then add to salad.
serve right away at room temperature or cover and refrigerate until lunch time. 

So I borrowed a juicer...

Sometimes I crave carrot, apple and ginger juice.  I got hooked on it when living in NYC where juice bars and carts were pretty easy to find.  I love how fresh and sweet carrot juice is and that extra kick of ginger makes it so refreshing.  What I don't love is the price.  It can cost around $5 for a 12 oz. juice from a fresh juice bar.  That gets to be a pretty expensive craving.  I can buy an entire BAG of carrots for less than that.  However, recently, my Mom asked if I wanted her juicer. Not ready to commit to the free juicer, I said I'd borrow it.  It's a cheap, small, easy to use juicer that works well enough for my carrot,apple and ginger juice cravings.  The only downside is that it can take a while to clean up. If you want to experiment with fresh juices but don't want to pay the high prices for either a top of the line juicer or fresh juice at your local juice bar, you might want to buy or borrow a cheaper model until you figure out what your needs are.

Here are some refreshing juices I made over the past couple of weeks.  So far I can't tear myself away from my carrot juice, but I did veer off the path a little.  I don't see myself investing in a fancy juicer anytime soon, so for now, the one I've got is working just fine.  I probably made juice about 3-4 times per week. 

yellow beet, ginger, carrot and apple

As you can see, all of this produce doesn't yield a lot of juice, but it's an easy way to get a serving or more of veggies since your body can absorb the vitamins from the fruits and vegetables right away. 

carrot, ginger, mango

apple, carrot, ginger and celery!

This was my main deviation from the carrot, apple ginger path.  I went green with cucumber, kiwi and granny smith apple.

this is the bright green fresh cucumber juice. it did not taste as good on its own as I imagined. next time I'll try a nice organic cucumber from my garden instead of the everyday supermarket cucumber.

I strained the juice because of the intense cucumber pulp

the kiwi made it really tart and sweet

 

back to the classic but with pear

Carrot Cake Pancakes

Cara, I think you're going to like this one. It's about breakfast between friends!

One of the perks of bring in grad school and working irregular hours,  is that I can have friends come over for breakfast before an afternoon class.  Today Aimee rode her bike over so we could make carrot cake pancakes !  What a treat to have a friend over to start the week! I love meeting friends for coffee at Des Moines' wonderful local coffee shops, however, for me there are times when having a friend over so you can cook together cannot be beat.  Especially when that friend is a fellow food enthusiast.  When planning our breakfast, Aimee wrote in an e mail "Do we think about food too much?"  To which I responded,  "Yes and there's nothing wrong with that!" 

We followed the recipe, almost exactly but instead used vanilla almond milk (rather thank plain) and substituted canola oil for a delicious walnut oil.  These pancakes (which happen to be vegan, if you're into that kind of thing) had a spicy, nutty flavor.  They were light and fluffy (perhaps due to a pleasant bubbling that occurred upon adding the wet ingredients to the dry) and not too sweet. 

I do not love carrot cake, the cake version. It's often too dense and too sweet and the cream cheese frosting that is usually on top is just over kill in my opinion (recall... I don't like frosting very much, period.) This was a nice substitute. So, if you're ever thinking of making me a carrot cake, just make me carrot pan-cakes instead. 

Response to Cook Report Carrot Soup

Chris is out with his coworkers this evening so I'm cooking for one tonight. Your post from yesterday had me thinking of carrot ginger soup. I worked late today and just didn't have it in me to spend much time cooking, but I still needed a good, warm home cooked dish. So, here is what I did!

Quick & Easy Carrot Ginger Soup with Coconut

Combine in a small pot:

3 large carrots, roughly chopped (or 5 medium ones)
just enough water to cover carrots
1/2 tsp veg bouillon or half cube

Bring to a boil and simmer until carrots soften. 6-7 minutes.

Add:

a half can of coconut milk
1 inch roughly chopped ginger
spices to taste (I used cumin, coriander and turmeric)
salt & pepper

Blend it all together in the pot with the immersion blender and voila! A beautifully carroty orange and delicious soup. In about 10 minutes. Serves 2. Or just me if I'm really hungry.


About adding cream to soup: I do make a carrot and coriander soup which is just lots of carrots and broth with no cream, but for this one I find the coconut milk is just an awesome healthy food especially on these winter evenings. I don't really worry about the fat content, if I keep it in moderation. I put coconut milk in lots of things, and I actually think it makes my skin look better! More on that later :)

Allison, later this week I'm going to make that slow-cooker sweet potato and lentil soup you put on your weekly menu. Have you made it yet? Any tips?

Cooking Report: What I Made Yesterday

I made the carrot ginger soup yesterday, creating my recipe from others I found online.  Here's what I used....

1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced with the slicing tool on my food processor (!!!).
one onion, minced.
2 inch piece of ginger, minced.
2 cloves garlic, minced.
2 cups vegetable broth.
2 cups water.
1/4 teaspoon cayenne.
2 teaspoons cumin.
1/2 teaspoon curry powder.
salt and pepper.
olive oil.

heat olive oil in a large pot on medium heat.
put the onions and garlic in the large pot and cook for about 5 minutes.
add carrots, ginger, spices.  cook for about 5 minutes.
add liquid and cook for 30 minutes. leave uncovered if you desire soup to be thicker, or leave lid on to preserve the liquid. I did about half covered, half uncovered, but found the soup to be a little too watery so next time, I'll leave the lid off most of the time for a thicker consistency.
puree soup with immersion blender (turn off the heat first, for safety!).

I liked my soup,  but there was something left to be desired.  Maybe it was the omission of dairy... many recipes I looked at used heavy cream or coconut milk, which I didn't have or want to use this time around to create a more healthy soup.  Due to the large amount of ginger, it was a little too spicy and not carrot-y enough. I am going to try again.  Suggestions encouraged!!!

I also wanted to share how I made the black bean burritos... 

1 cup brown rice.
1 can black beans, rinsed.
1/2 green pepper, chopped.
1 green onion, chopped.
1/4 -1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes with green chiles.
homemade taco seasoning.         ----------->
olive oil.
salt and pepper.
shredded cheddar cheese.
cilantro.
whole wheat tortilla.
salsa.




cook rice, using 1 1/2 to 1 water to rice ratio.
prep other ingredients and mix homemade taco seasoning.
when rice is almost finished cooking (approximately 15-20 minutes in) start heating olive oil in a medium pan.  add green peppers and green onion.  season with salt and pepper.
when veggies start to soften, add beans, tomatoes and 1-2 teaspoons of the taco seasoning. 
Mash some of the black beans with the back of a spoon.  Mix and keep on low.
Stir 1 teaspoon taco seasoning into the rice.  When it is done, add rice to bean mixture. Mix it together and if you want a little more liquid, add more diced tomatoes.

I topped my bean and rice mixture with a little bit of cilantro, salsa and shredded cheese and rolled it up in the tortilla.  My husband created a salad with spinach, green onions, shredded mozzarella (resourcefully from a piece of string cheese), and topped it with a little lime juice and the salsa. 

This hit the spot. Healthy and delicious!