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Yellow Turnip Salad with Sour Cream
Instructions
I get all the ingredients ready for the yellow turnip salad with sour cream. The main thing is to choose a good turnip: firm, undamaged, with smooth skin. A soft or old turnip will be bitter and fibrous.
I take a yellow turnip – it is sweet and slightly piquant, quite unlike the white kind. I rinse it under running water and peel off the tough skin with a vegetable peeler, leaving the more tender part. I grate the peeled turnip on a Korean-carrot grater – this gives pretty long strands that look attractive in the salad. An ordinary coarse grater will also do, but the julienne strands look more striking.
I rinse the parsley under cold water, pat it dry and chop it finely. I add the chopped parsley to the grated turnip. Parsley gives a characteristic fresh aroma and a pleasant green note to the colour scheme.
I peel the onion and slice it into thin half-rings. To make the salad more tender and stop the onion overpowering the flavour, you can marinate it beforehand or use sweet salad onion. Sharp raw onion can "kill" the gentle sweetness of the turnip.
I add the sliced onion to the rest of the ingredients. At this point the salad is almost ready – all that is left is to dress it.
I dress the salad with thick homemade sour cream, then season with salt and ground black pepper to taste. Thick sour cream (20% or higher) matters – a runny one will weep and the salad won't hold its shape. I adjust the amount of sour cream to taste – 2 tbsp is enough for one small turnip.
I mix all the ingredients in a bowl until evenly dressed, then pile the salad into a flat dish. I garnish with parsley leaves on top and serve at once, before it releases its juice. The yellow turnip salad with sour cream is ready!
Tips
- 1
Choose a fresh, firm turnip with smooth skin – old roots are fibrous and bitter. Yellow turnip is sweeter than white and is good in salads without boiling.
- 2
It is better to marinate the onion in advance (3–5 minutes in vinegar with sugar and salt) or use sweet salad onion – sharp raw onion will overpower the gentle flavour of the turnip.
- 3
A Korean-carrot grater gives prettier strands than an ordinary coarse one, so the salad looks more striking. I use a similar trick in other vegetable salads.
- 4
Serve straight after dressing – on contact with sour cream and salt the turnip quickly releases juice, and the salad turns watery after 30 minutes.
FAQ
How is yellow turnip different from ordinary white turnip? +
Yellow turnip is an old Russian root vegetable that differs from the white kind: it has yellow or cream-coloured flesh and a sweeter taste with a slight piquancy (unlike the sharp bitterness of the white one). White turnip is more often used for boiling and stewing (in soups, for example). The yellow one can be eaten raw – it is in salads that its qualities come through best. If you have no yellow turnip, daikon radish or a young turnip of any variety will do – they have a milder taste.
What can replace sour cream in the dressing? +
You can replace sour cream with plain unsweetened yoghurt (lighter but sharper), mayonnaise (richer and fuller), a 1:1 mix of sour cream and mayonnaise (the happy medium), thick cream with a drop of lemon juice, or soy-based vegetable sour cream (for a lean version). Each dressing gives its own character: yoghurt – freshness, mayonnaise – richness of flavour, cream – tenderness. I would not recommend vegetable oil – too runny a base for this kind of cut.
Can the salad be made with other vegetables? +
Yes, yellow turnip goes well with carrot, beetroot, daikon radish, celeriac and a tart apple. Adding 1 raw carrot will make the salad more colourful. Pieces of green apple will give a pleasant tartness. Walnuts or toasted sesame (1 tsp) add a nice crunch. For a more filling salad you can add grated egg or pieces of boiled chicken. The main thing is not to overload it: the turnip should stay the main ingredient.
How long does the salad keep? +
A dressed salad is best eaten at once – after 30–60 minutes the turnip releases juice and the salad turns watery. If you need to make it ahead, chop all the ingredients, store them in separate containers and dress just before serving. Prepared this way, the ingredients keep for 1–2 days in the fridge. The finished salad keeps for a maximum of 6–8 hours in the fridge in a closed container, but the flavour will no longer be as bright.
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