A Different Salad

Sweetie and I were telling one of the owners of our favorite cafe...Redwood Cafe in Cotati...about a recipe in the food section about making 'noodles' out of zucchini, daikon radish, carrots, cucumber, and other veggies. He brightened up and said to wait for him, then took off for the kitchen. He returned with a large bag of white, crisp, noodles and said they were made out of kohlrabi and that a vendor had given him some to try. He gave us the bag and I promised that I would make a dish that made good use of them and then post it here. Moose, here is your Kohlrabi Salad!

These swirly noodles, created by spiralizing raw kohlrabi, are almost tasteless, which means that you can pair them with all sorts of flavors. Moose had suggested heating them briefly so that they were similar to pasta and then saucing as I would pasta. Will probably do that soon with the rest of the bag, but tonight I made this salad for dinner. The crisp noodles are just nicely crunchy, but very easy to bite through. Next time I might chop the strands a bit smaller so that they are more graceful to eat.

I combined freshly minced ginger, rice vinegar, lime juice, olive oil and a tiny bit of honey for a dressing. The idea was to have a dressing that was flavorful but light tasting.

I julienned orange, white, and purple baby carrots, some Persian cucumber, and some red bell pepper for the veggies, then decided to include a mellow, ripe avocado, too.

A topping of chopped peanuts added another flavor note and more crunch, but it could be left off, too.

This mixture would be amazing on a fish taco, but it also went well with the chicken thighs that Sweetie grilled. I finished my salad first, it was so good. Sweetie had a second helping and cleaned out the serving bowl. Clearly I need to make this again!

Thank you Mustafa for your generosity in sharing this new kind of 'noodle' and I hope you can make use of this recipe, since I created it from scratch.

Kohlrabi Salad for Moose
Serves 2-4

1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
juice of one lime, about 3 tablespoons
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar, unseasoned
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/2 cup each julienned baby carrots, red pepper and cucumber (Persian or English are best for this). These matchstick pieces should be about 1/4 to 1/8th-inch thick and about 1 to 1 1/2-inches long.
1 avocado, seed removed, peeled and cut into chunks
4-6 cups kohlrabi 'noodles', basically spiral cut kohlrabi, chilled
1 tablespoon chopped peanuts (optional)

In a small jar with tight-fitting lid, combine the ginger, lime juice, rice wine vinegar, olive oil and honey. With lid securely in place, shake the jar until all ingredients are well combined. Taste and add salt or pepper if desired. Set aside.

In a large bowl place the baby carrots, red pepper, cucumber, avocado and kohlrabi noodles. Drizzle most of the dressing over the contents of the bowl. Use tongs to toss the ingredients together, allowing all to be at the bottom of the bowl with the dressing and then to move to other parts of the bowl. (If desired, you can roughly chop the kohlrabi noodles before putting them into the bowl. This will make tossing and serving...and eating!...easier.)

Using the tongs, transfer salad to salad bowls or plates and top, if desired, with a pinch of the peanuts.

Serve at once.