Nokol Fry (a.k.a Kholrabi)

In my opinion Nokol is a very under appreciated vegetable. When I moved to the United States many moons ago these types of tropical veggies were not widely available.  Now there is an Asian grocery store or a purely organic vegetable store in pretty much in every city. I am able to find it in even  big grocery stores like Whole Foods, Kroger etc... 

The Nokol I knew back home was available in white color. But these days I see a white and purple color as well. Advanced technologies and improved logistics allow us to reach to all different countries and import fresh vegetables.  

For this recipe I picked a purple and white Nokol. Only the peel has purple shades in it and before cooking you would peel it. Peel in this vegetable tend to be a bit fibrous therefore I always remove it. So did my mom.  

Each culture has different ways of cooking vegetables. Where I grew up certain vegetables are cooked with mild spices and a light gravy whereas other vegetables are cooked with stronger spices. This way of cooking relate to understanding the vegetables better and knowing what goes well with it.  

You peel the Nokol and then cut it into wedges and pressure cook it. I use an Instant pot so I cooked it for 3 minutes. 

Once cooked you cut those wedges into small pieces. I did it this way to make sure it gets cooked faster. My mom always cooked it on stove top after adding all the ingredients. 

Then you put the pieces in a pan with some green chilies, curry leaves, turmeric, salt, a few fenugreek seeds and about half a cup of coconut milk and cook it. 

Now if you are not pressure cooking first then I would add enough coconut milk to cover the pieces. In this case since I cooked the vegetables first I am adding only a little milk. You can let the milk become a thick gravy, almost dry. This will leave a creamy texture on Nokol. Or you can leave a bit of gravy on.  I make it both ways. Decision to cook which way is made based on what I am eating the vegetable with. If it’s rice and if there are other gravies I make it dry. If it’s chapati then I would make it with some gravy. 

All is up to you. Ultimately the combination of this mild vegetable enhanced by the velvety texture of coconut milk is just Devine.  

Next time you see this odd looking vegetable please invite them into your kitchen. You will not regret it. Some of them will come with their leaves on. Don’t discard them if they do. Cut it up and make a sauté with coconut. In Sri Lanka we call it mallum. It’s another tasty dish for a different day as my Nokol did not come with leaves this time.