Thursday, January 2, 2014

Curried Turnips Recipe- Vegan, Gluten Free

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Curried Turnips, White Rice, and Apple Chutney
I've mentioned a few times before on my blog that I really am not a fan of the flavor of turnips. Meaning, I don't hate them, but they are so strongly flavored that I feel I need to do something to mask their flavor somewhat when eating them, especially if they are not being included as part of another dish with many other ingredients. Almost all recipes I've seen for turnips involve mashing them (not something that appeals to me, given their strong taste), or putting them as one of many veggies in a soup or a stew. But I am always on the lookout for turnip based dishes that have strong enough flavors that they don't just taste like a whole lot of turnip. Especially when I am able to get turnips really cheaply like I did yesterday.
I've already made turnips into a spicy Korean salad, turn them into pickles, and even have made them into hash browns.
I figured that Indian foods are strongly enough spiced that curried turnips would probably be terrific. And it is! Yes, you still taste the turnip, but it's well balanced by the other flavors...

Curried Turnips Recipe- Vegan, Gluten Free

Ingredients:
3-4 tablespoons oil
4 cardamom pods
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin
1 medium onion
1-2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons nigella
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
5 turnips
2 tablespoons coconut flakes
Hot pepper flakes to taste

Instructions:
1. Heat up the oil on a pan, then add the cardamom pods, mustard seeds and cumin. Cook for 3-4 minutes.

2. Slice up the onion and add it to the pan, sauteing until golden.

3. Grate the turnips, and add them and the rest of the ingredients, other than the coconut and hot pepper flakes, cooking on a medium heat, stirring frequently, until fully soft.

4. Add the coconut flakes and hot pepper flakes.

5. Serve with rice, red lentil dahl, and chutney.

Enjoy!

What is your favorite thing to do with turnips? Do you have any good recipes to share? Does this look like a recipe you'd try?


8 comments:

  1. I love turnips! When I was a little kid we'd pluck them out of the field and my dad would peel them with his pocket knife leaving the green tops on, and we'd eat them all the while pretending we were eating ice cream in a cone!

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    1. So funny how different people have have such different reactions to different foods! Maybe fresh turnips taste better?

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  2. Curried...turnips. Well, I never would have thought of it, but I'll try it out; we have a lot of turnips at the local grocery for cheap. Usually I braise them in a beef stew or put them in a beef soup, and they're awesome in both.

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  3. I know you don't have a garden, but my aunt and cousin raise turnips. They saute them in butter. They told me they are best if you pick them from the garden and cook them immediately. Somehow the flavor is better.

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    Replies
    1. Turnips and butter definitely are a good mash. I make a mock hashbrowns using them.

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  4. I never cared for turnips for the same reason, until I got married. My mother in law always mashed the turnip, add a mashed potato ,butter, then add some sugar.Salt and pepper. Changes the taste and it is so good.

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  5. Got our CSA bag of turnips to a resounding "ugh" from both me and my family. Probably our sixth round of turnips in two years. Been searching for something amazing to go with it- and found amazing with this recipe. Stumbled upon it via googling "turnip recipe vegan." Even my 3 year old gobbled it up! The red lentil dahl and rice were perfect sidekicks. My husband asked "so what CSA vegetable are we eating?" and was surprised when I mentioned turnips. He agreed this recipe is a keeper. Thank you so much for sharing this! -Jules in USA

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    Replies
    1. Awesome! So glad I was able to help your turnips go from ugh to yum!

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