It has been a warm (some say hot) few days here in London. The Olympics are over and we can return to our daily challenge of eating 30 plants a week.
I don’t find it a challenge to eat 30 plants a week, as last weekend’s shakshuka contributed 12 plants to the weekly list: onion, garlic, celery, peppers (yellow, red and orange), black pepper, cumin, tomatoes, parsley, coriander, red chilli.
But this is a new week and we need to start again. Buoyed by a kohlrabi which my neighbour gave us, I decided to make a salad to accompany the fresh tuna steaks we had for dinner. New to kohlrabi? See a previous post on this special vegetable.
In honour of the kohlrabi, I have named this salad ‘kohl-slaw’. I made it twice, with sightly different herbs each time. It contributes at least nine plants out of the recommended 30 a week: kohlrabi, carrot, apple, garlic, red chilli, lime, dill, coriander, basil, mint, peanuts. Red and green apple, and red and green chilli, would count as two plants, and each herb is a separate plant.
This salad is refreshing on a hot day, and very simple to assemble. The vegetables and apple can be shredded into matchsticks using just a knife, but a mandolin might make things easier. If preparing ahead, place the salad in a serving bowl in the fridge, and add the lime dressing and peanuts at the last minute. Give everything a good toss before serving with some grilled fish or chicken.
For the Salad:
150 g shredded kohlrabi
150 g shredded carrots
150 g shredded green/ red apple
Small bunch of fresh coriander/ dill/ mint/ basil, finely sliced
50 g unsalted peanuts, toasted and roughly chopped for the topping
For the Lime Dressing:
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons soft brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red chilli, chopped
How to Make:
Make the salad dressing by placing all the ingredients in a small jar or glass and whisk with a fork until combined.
Combine all the salad ingredients in a large mixing bowl, add the salad dressing and toss well.
Place on a serving plate / bowl, and top with the toasted peanuts.
The kohl-slaw before and after dressing it with the lime sauce and peanuts
One kohlrabi, when mixed with other ingredients, goes a long way. Since we liked the kohl-slaw very much, we had it twice for dinner, the second time with a pizza. It seems to me that instead of carrot I could use an unripe mango. This reminded me of another salad with similar flavours, but with the addition of mung bean noodles.
