“WHAT the HECK is that?” I squealed loudly, giving at least one lady nearby reason to shoot me a look. My boyfriend Stig smiled in his usual patient way, though I’m sure the eyes on the inside of his head were rolling.
We were in the Coop mega grocery store in Randaberg sentrum, and I was watching people dropping some sort of bulbous root vegetable into their baskets. “Kålrabi” Stig answered. “Its, ehh.. I think turnip?”
Back at home I checked kålrabi in my Norwegian-English dictionary and came up blank. I had about 5 online dictionaries bookmarked on my computer (I’ve found one dictionary alone usually just gets me laughed at). However, having grown up rarely eating any root vegetables at all, we were more of a green vegetable and fruit family, and especially not turnips, I abandoned search and filed kålrabi away in my mind under “new/foreign things to deal with later”.
I was snacking from a veggie plate at Stig’s cousin Randi’s house. There was one thing on the plate that I couldn’t stop eating; it reminded me of jícama (yam or Mexican turnip, indigenous to the Americas and a popular raw snack especially in Latin/south/west-coast America). “What is this?” I asked the women around me, and wouldn’t you know it, but kålrabi is tasty!
I pulled kålrabi from the “new/foreign things to deal with later” shelf and onto the “new/foreign things to master” research desk. Here is what I found:
Scientific name: Brassica napus or B. napobrassica
Kålrabi synonyms: kålrot, rutabaga, Swede turnip, yellow turnip. According to Marianne (Stavanger), “it has a very high content of vitamin C so it is actually called ‘the Nordic orange.”
Kålrabi looks like a turnip but larger and usually more yellow. They are also denser and sweeter.
Alida, a farmer at Langwater Farm in Massachusetts, explained, “Rutabagas are a root vegetable with a strong, sweet flavor. They are a cross between turnips and wild cabbage, and are very similar to turnips in flavor. Rutabagas are in the Brassica family, along with turnips, kale, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. Rutabagas grow well in cool weather and can store well for up to six months, making them an ideal winter vegetable. Rutabagas are often prepared together with parsnips, a sweet and flavorful member of the carrot family. Rutabagas are tasty served mashed, pureed, or in soups or stews.”
Buying: Choose medium sized ones that are heavy for their size, have good color, and are firm with no bruises or shriveling. Remove the greens immediately because they draw out moisture. Kålrabi is great because it is available in the winter when other fresh vegetables are harder to find.
Nutrition: Low in sodium and high in vitamin C! Has calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin E, beta-carotene, almost all vitamins B.
What do the Norwegians say?
“It’s a must to have mashed kålrabi with the traditional christmas dinner and with salty meat like sausages or salted lamb.” – Solveig Maria (Oslo)
“It is inevitable when eating komle and pinnekjøtt!” – Marianne (Stavanger)
“My grandparents always make it, and so do my parents, but I think it’s kind of phased out for our generation.” – Mattis (Stavanger)
“Its good when you eat it raw, almost like a carrot, but a bit more juicy.” – Egil (Stavanger)
”We very much like kålrabi as a snack. It has a crisp and fresh taste.” – Gjertrud (Sunde)
“Kålrot, kålrabi is the same. You can go to Kvasir.no and fill in kålrot, and there you can read about it. It is it mostly used for food for people, but sometimes it is used for animals. It is one of the few vegetables we use mashed!” – Solveig (Randaberg),
“I first of all eat it as kålrabistappe as it is a common side dish served with komla and pinnekjøtt. We used to make it straigt out of a pack (just add water) but that becomes a bit too creamy. The best is to make it from scratch and it is great with pinnekjøtt (as you add fat from the pinnekjøtt to the kålrabistappe). I rarely eat it apart from in the mash…but it is actually not a bad veggie to chew on when it is raw.” – Gard (Stavanger)
Read more (from the Norwegians)
Try eating them:
- Raw! Just peel, slice, and snack!
- Mashed (the Norwegian way)
- As fried chips
- In a gratin
- In latkes (see below)
- In a salad
- In soup
- Roasted, boiled, steamed, stir-fried, or baked
- Even in cake! (like a carrot cake)
Chips: All root vegetables can be fried into chips just like potatoes. Just peel and slice thinly with a mandolin or cheese slicer, or cut into sticks or wedges, and fry. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and let dry on paper towels to drain the extra oil. Sprinkle with salt when still warm.
Sweet potato and Kålrabi latkes:
- 1 pound sweet potatoes (2 medium or 1 large)
- 1/2 pound kålrabi (1 large)
- 1/2 cup minced shallots
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 egg
- 6 tablespoons unbleached white flour
- Extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil, for frying
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup milk (approximately)
- Peanut oil for frying
1. Grate the sweet potatoes and kålrabi coarsely. In a separate bowl mix the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cayenne pepper, curry powder, cumin, and salt and pepper.
2. Add the eggs and just enough milk to the dry ingredients to make a stiff batter. Add the potatoes and mix. The batter should be moist but not runny; if too stiff, add more milk.
3. Heat 1/4 inch of peanut oil in a frying pan until it is barely smoking. Drop in the batter by tablespoons and flatten. Fry over medium-high heat several minutes on each side until golden. Drain on paper towels and serve.
Try these other recipes:
Rutabaga-and-Potato Salad
http://www.wholeliving.com/recipe/rutabaga-and-potato-salad
Shepherd’s Pie with Rutabaga Topping
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/perfect-shepherds-pie
Mashed Rutabagas
http://www.wholeliving.com/recipe/mashed-rutabagas
Roasted Root Vegetables with Green Onions
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roasted-Root-Vegetables-with-Green-Onions-3183
Root Vegetable Gratin
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Root-Vegetable-Gratin-13424
Moroccan-Style Chicken and Root Vegetable Stew
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Moroccan-Style-Chicken-and-Root-Vegetable-Stew-4635
Pork and Root Vegetables Burritos with Chili Colorado
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pork-and-Root-Vegetables-Burritos-with-Chili-Colorado-2456
Cornbread Dressing with Roasted Fall Vegetables
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cornbread-Dressing-with-Roasted-Fall-Vegetables-240386
Autumn Soup with Crispy Bacon
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Autumn-Soup-with-Crispy-Bacon-108989
Hearty Rutabaga, Carrot, Parsnip and Sausage Soup
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Hearty-Rutabaga-Carrot-Parsnip-and-Sausage-Soup-2744
Mashed Potatoes with Rutabagas and Buttermilk
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Mashed-Potatoes-with-Rutabagas-and-Buttermilk-15635
Carrots and Rutabagas with Lemon and Honey
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Carrots-and-Rutabagas-with-Lemon-and-Honey-105812
Rutabaga Purée with Cardamom and Thyme
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rutabaga-Puree-with-Cardamom-and-Thyme-236250
Smashed Rutabagas with Ginger-Roasted Pears
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Smashed-Rutabagas-with-Ginger-Roasted-Pears-240414
Swede Potato Soup with Fried Spaghetti Squash and Toasted Pepitas
http://veganyumyum.com/2007/11/rutabagas-are-for-lovers/
3 comments
kip
Feb 2, 2010
One mystery solved! Good job, Lani, and interesting article. Great sources!
pauline
Feb 3, 2010
Nice! Very thorough and “lively”.
rhysmhor
Jan 1, 2011
Cheers Lani!
I had this with Pinnekjott this Julafta for the first time. At first i thought it was kolrabi, which is greener than the neep-like veg you show here. Coming from Canada, where mutton was not on the menu, i found the Kalrabi to be my favourite part of the meal! Good job on the recipes too!
rhysmhor