When the mercury creeps up something happens and I start to crave Asian food. In particular SE Asian food like Vietnamese and Thai. There’s something so satisfying about that balance of heat from the chilli, sweetness from the palm sugar and the sour salty mix given by the lime and fish sauce. Nom nom nom.

So when a kohlrabi landed in my veg box last week and I thought I’d make a coleslaw inspired by SE Asian flavours. I’m sharing it in case there’s anyone else out there thinking, kohlrabi? What the feff do I do with that?

Notes:
* If you don’t have all the ingredients to make the dressing you could use sweet chilli sauce or a bottle of Vietnamese dipping sauce.
* To transform the slaw into a light lunch or meal, toss with some cooked and cooled fine rice vermicelli noodles and sliced beef, chicken or spring rolls.

Asian Slaw with Kohlrabi
Serves 2 as a side salad

Ingredients:

Slaw:
1 kohlrabi, peeled and cut into fine matchsticks
1 medium carrot, grated
½ cabbage, shredded
1 bunch coriander, roughly chopped
1 bunch mint, roughly chopped
1 handful peanuts, roughly chopped
2 tsp sesame seeds

Dressing:
Thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely grated
½ clove garlic, finely grated
1 lemongrass stick, bashed and finely chopped
1 red birdseye chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (add more or less depending on how hot you like things)
zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp palm sugar, grated (substitute with light brown sugar if you don’t have palm sugar)
½ tbsp fish sauce
½ tbsp water
1 tsp crunchy peanut butter (more if you like things extra nutty)

Add all the slaw ingredients except the peanuts and sesame seeds to a large bowl and toss to mix.

To make the dressing add all the dressing ingredients to a small jug or bowl and whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Taste! Can’t stress the importance of tasting enough. Adjust the flavours by adding more sugar, lime or fish sauce until the balance is just right. You may well need more fish sauce but I like to err on the side of caution as there’s no going back if you add too much!

Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well. Clean hands is best for this but a fork will do the job.

Lightly toast the peanuts and sesame seeds and scatter over the salad before serving.

Munch away, preferably outdoors in the warmth of the sun!