The other day I came across a vegetable that I hadn’t seen for a while in my little neighborhood market here.
As you must have guessed it from the title, I am talking about the humble Kohlrabi, a plump, whitish and roundish looking leafy bulb vegetable.
Personally, I am very familiar with the taste of the bulb and I blame my mother for that.
She had the habit to make her pureed thin textured orange colored Vegetable soup and of course she would add kohlrabi to my dismay.
Her soup is healthy but I wasn’t a vegetable fan as a child.
Also it’s a vegetable that is commonly used in the German speaking countries.
I have heard that the Kohlrabi is common in some parts of India too but I am not sure if it’s available all over the country.
The Kohlrabi has a mellow pungent and a bit of a sweet taste.
The texture is quite dense, hard but rather juicy.
Soups can be made of it and my mum once experimented by turning it into a stuffed vessel.
The leafs are edible too if they are in a good condition.
I took a while to turn the Kohlrabi into a vegetable purée, although I am big Puree lover.
In fact I got the idea when my friend had cooked a carrot mash a few years back.
Mashed potato exists in all its forms all over the world but have you ever tried a mashed potato kohlrabi?
How do you cook kohlrabi?
I had made a couple of different mashed potato kohlrabi side dishes in the past before.
One was cheesy, one had a spicy seasoning, one with herbs, one with cauliflower included and so on.
As you can see we eat frequently vegetable mashes in my home, so I get to experiment a lots.
My favorite of all is the very unique Potato Kohlrabi recipe.
Which surprisingly is the one without the milk but with vegetable stock from the cooked Kohlrabi and Potato.
The reason for that was a small “spice” inspiration, the Juniper berry.
I always thought this pepper-look-alike dried berry was not only a clear soup flavoring essential.
But also a great fit with veggies such as Cabbage, Potato and Cauliflower.
However, I had no access in India to any seeds for a while.
I had to bring a whole packet of Juniper seeds from Europe last year, which by the way will last for another 2 years
Do you know where juniper berries are available in India?
Juniper berries emit a comforting aroma when cooked in liquids and I wouldn’t describe it as spicy, except when you end up chewing on one accidentally.
A herb such as Rosemary goes fairly well with the juniper berry flavor also cumin supports a Juniper’s being well.
Have you cooked with Juniper Berries?
For this particular mash recipe I decided to go with dried Rosemary and Juniper as extra flavoring.
The use of these two ingredients will make the mashed potato kohlrabi a special side dish.
Honestly, I often fry some eggs and to pair with the Potato Kohlrabi mash, I was positively surprised how much I enjoyed my meal even more.
Of course you could also serve the mash with buttery cooked french beans and a beef steak or a pork dish would be a great choice as well.
I leave that up to you, enjoy!
What would you serve mashed potato kohlrabi with?
- 300 grams Kohlrabi = 2 three inch bulbs
- 350 grams Potatoes
- 5-6 Juniper Berries
- 2 Tablespoon Butter or Oil for Vegan
- 1 small Onion
- 150 milliliter Vegetable stock
- pinch Salt
- pinch Pepper
- 1 Teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste
- ½ teaspoon Rosemary
- Wash, peel and cut your Kohlrabi bulb. If your Kohlrabi leafs look healthy then you may use them for something else otherwise discard. Also wash peel and cut your potatoes small.
- Place all the vegetable cubes into a pot, add the Juniper berries, cover with water and cook on medium heat for about 20 mins or until soft. Strain your veggies but keep the veggie stock, we will need it later. Discard the Juniper berries.
- While the veggies are cooking you can slice your onion and fry it translucent with the 2 Tablespoons of Butter or Oil. Let it cool a bit.
- If you are using a mixer, add all the ingredients (cooked Potato and Kohlrabi, 150 milliliter of the vegetable stock, fried onion with the butter/oil, salt, pepper, ginger garlic paste and rosemary) into a mixing jar and blend until smooth or place all the ingredients back to the pot and blend with a hand mixer.
- Reheat again before serving the Mashed Potato Kohlrabi as a side.
