This vegetable is often ignored by us, but with some unique recipe ideas, one can incorporate the turnip in many ways and in different dishes.

There are certain vegetables that are often not given the due importance they deserve due to an image problem or how they are associated with by most people. One such vegetable is the turnip. It has a nice, earthy flavor and zest to its taste. However, from Al Capp’s cartoons in the thirties to the eighties, this vegetable has been considered to be a symbol of deprivation, a vegetable that poor people eat when they are unable to afford little else. Today, however, with a more scientific and balanced approach towards diet and nutrition, people are realizing the different nutritional benefits that each vegetable offers and how to make the maximum use of each.

A side dish of caramelized turnips

This is a wonderful side dish that can be served with duck or pork dishes as well. The dish makes use of turnips and apple slices which are roasted in the oven and softened. A sauce is made after roasting spices like cumin, anise and cloves and setting them aside. In a sauce of sugar, vinegar, garlic, honey, white wine and duck or pork stock, the turnip and apple slices can be added and tossed together before serving.21

Turnip and mango winter slaw

For those who would rather opt for simpler salad recipes, this is a unique tasting slaw prepared from turnip that is boiled and softened and slices of mango added to it. A sauce is prepared of ginger, vinegar, honey, olive oil and the mango, turnip as well as celery leaves are tossed in it. The slaw can be had chilled.

Raw turnip, apple and carrot salad

When you are sitting down with a burger made from vegetable patties (check out “Go Vegetarian this Season with Some Lip Smacking Veggie Burger Ideas“), you add on a raw turnip, apple and carrot salad that are sliced thinly and tossed with a salad dressing of sugar, salt, pepper, garlic and olive oil. This salad should also be chilled before eating.

Gratin with turnip

For those who need to have a soul fulfilling meal like a baked gratin dish, the meat or other filling ingredient can be replaced with turnip. That will make the dish healthier and nutritious as well. The turnip needs to be roasted and made soft before slices of the vegetable are tossed with a mixture of flour, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, salt and pepper as well as beat egg. The mixture can be baked in an oven and later consumed for dinner.

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Turnip can be consumed in different ways, glazed, braised, boiled, stewed and sautéed. It partners well with meat dishes like pork, goose and duck. It has a subtle bitter aftertaste that allows it to be combined with cheese as well as with different spices. This winter you could try different variants of turnip and add them to your dishes to whip up something different and nutritious at the same time. Combine turnip based dishes with meat dishes and your children will not complain as well.