Hurray to Lorienne Schwenk of The Singing Kitchen for sending in this recipe! Lorienne stopped by my stand at the Boulder Farmers’ Market and we started chatting. When I mentioned how I want this blog to be a forum for all of us to share our favorite recipes, she told me right away about this one. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks wonderful. To all you cooks out there, please follow in Lorienne’s footsteps and send along your favorite seasonal recipes so we can all benefit! What follows is from Lorienne. — SeedtoSpoon.com
Thai Root Vegetables in Creamed Coconut
2 large kohlrabi, trimmed and chopped into medium dice
6 medium golden beets, scrubbed and diced
Greens from the beets, washed and rough chopped
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 bird’s-eye red chilies, chopped
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground black pepper
1/2 cup coconut milk
1.5 cups vegetable stock
chopped fresh cilantro (Vietnamese) or Thai basil, to garnish
1. Place the kohlrabi and beets in a pan with the onion, chili, salt, pepper, and creamed coconut. Stir in the stock.
2. Bring to a boil stirring, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer gently, stirring occasionally until the kohlrabi and beets are tender.
3. When the root vegetables are tender, add the beet greens after washing and chopping them. Continue cooking until they wilt, about 2 minutes.
4. Adjust seasoning to taste, then sprinkle with the chopped cilantro or basil.
This recipe works beautifully with other root vegetables, especially what is all over the farmers market right now. I have done this for a crowd and doubled it. I used two big kohlrabi and six medium golden beets. Very pretty and tasty. The sweetness of the beets was delicious with the coconut milk and the golden beets did not color the whole dish as red beets would. Chiogga beets would work well too.
Just a brief rave about using kohlrabi. It is in the brassica family with all the crucifers like cabbage and kale. The benefits of this family include carotenes, vitamins C and B6, good dietary fiber, minerals, and B vitamins (Murray, Encyclopedia of Healing Foods), and anti-cancer fighting properties. Beets are high in folic acid, fiber, and potassium and promote health in the liver as well as fighting cancer.
If you haven’t tried coconut milk, this is a great recipe to introduce yourself to it. The fat in coconut milk is nothing to worry about. It is in the form of health-promoting medium-chain fatty acid that is easy to digest. It does not contribute to heart disease or higher cholesterol. Feel free to email me (Lorienne@thesingingkitchen.com) if you have concerns about coconut milk. If you just won’t use it, replace with fresh whole milk yogurt and don’t add the yogurt until the end of the cooking.
Serve this as a main vegetable entree or a side along with other Thai dishes. Enjoy! Thank you Gretchen for letting me contribute this recipe.
Maybe it’s the economy, but I’m finding myself growing increasingly careful about what I throw away. Now when a recipe calls for half an onion, I’ll dice and freeze the other half. So when I was cutting the stems and leaves off two kohlrabi bulbs, I decided to break with tradition and keep them. Unwashed, the greens stayed in a plastic bag in the fridge for a few days.
