Signs of spring are all around. My favorite time of the year when garden vibrant and full of new season herbs and flowers. This is the time for inspiration and for experiments with new ingredients. Today I will show you how to prepare light spring salad with crispy oca, fragrant fennel, and juicy kohlrabi. This salad extremely rich in vitamins.
Oca (pretty little red tubers) also known as New Zealand yam have a slightly tangy lemon taste. The flesh is firm but juicy and crisp when eaten raw or lightly cooked, and becoming more starchy if fully cooked. The tubers don’t require peeling when eating Oca raw – just wash them clean, and they can be sliced to add a hint of a lemony zest to salads. Oca is one of the highest vegetable sources of carbohydrate and energy. They are a good source of pro-vitamin A (beta carotene), and also contain potassium, vitamin B6 and small amounts of fiber. The significant levels of iron found in kohlrabi go hand-in-hand with the potassium content, as iron helps to increase red blood cells in the body, which is essential to prevent anemia (iron deficiency). The calcium found in kohlrabi also improves the uptake of iron by the body, so kohlrabi is an all-around booster for both the immune and cardiovascular systems. Fennel is an excellent source of vitamin C.
For more nutritional value I added to the salad large handful of organic dried cranberries and sweet-sour Inca golden berries. Seeds and nuts also working good here.
Ingredients
2 Serves- 1 Medium size kohlrabi, peeled and shaved
- 2 Medium size fennel, shaved
- Big handful small tubers of oca (New Zealand yams), approx. 250g, slice diagonally into slice
- Peeled segments of one orange
- Handful of dried cranberries
- Handful of dried Inca golden berries
For dressing:
- Juice of half orange and half lemon
- 1Tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbs apple syrup (or maple syrup)
- Sea salt
Syrup from sweetest New Zealand apples. And a mouth-wateringly tangy super fruit dried Inca golden berries. Bursting with vitamins and antioxidants, the Golden Berry (Physalis Peruviana) is also known as the Aztec berry, Peruvi.
Directions
Using either a vegetable peeler or mandoline, shave finely kohlrabi and fennel. Slice washed tubers of oca diagonally. Put all ingredients into the salad bowl.
For salad dressing combine all ingredients in the bowl and mix well using a whisk. Pour over salad. Sprinkle with dried berries. Mix it all up and serve with a warm toast. Enjoy!
