The young Japanese turnips in our box this week have lots of uses. You can treat the roots like radishes, slicing them thin and putting them raw in salads (or on bread with salt and lots of butter!). The greens are good too. Just treat them like kale or chard or any other cooking green—blanch them for a minute or two in boiling water, or just saute them. People say you should generally separate greens from roots for storage, with varying explanations about making the roots keep longer or taste better. I have no idea if this is true, but I always do it!
Here's an unusual recipe for turnips adapted from Raghavan Iyer's wonderful book 660 Curries. It works great with fresh young turnips, but it's also good in the middle of winter with giant old ones. It calls for black cumin seeds, which have a strange and interesting flavor that I like a lot, even though I have barely any uses for them besides this recipe. In the middle of a global pandemic or otherwise, I can't tell you in good conscience to rush out and buy black cumin. But the recipe will be fine with normal cumin too—just cut the amount a bit. I like eating this dish with rice with yogurt stirred into it after cooking.
Turnips and their greens with garlic and cumin
1 tsp. black cumin seeds
6 cloves of garlic
3 little dried red chiles, stems removed (or use red pepper flakes, or omit)
2 tbsp. neutral oil such as canola
1 1/2 pound turnips left whole if small, in large chunks otherwise
1 tsp. kosher salt plus more to taste
1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
any or all of: minced turnip greens, mint leaves, cilantro leaves and stems
In a mortar and pestle, grind the cumin, garlic and chiles into a very rough paste (or just mince the garlic, use pre-ground cumin, and red pepper flakes). Put a large pot or skillet that can be covered over medium-high heat and add the oil. Add the cumin, garlic, and chiles and cook for 1-2 minutes until browned. Add the turnips, lower the heat to medium, and cover the pan. Cook 5-8 minutes, lifting the cover and stirring occasionally. The steam from turnips will keep things from burning, but the turnips should eventually start browning lightly. Add 1/2 cup of water, turmeric, salt, and the turnip greens if using. Deglaze the pan by scraping it with a wooden spoon. Cover it again and let simmer till the turnips are tender, which might be 5 minutes for young turnips or 15-20 for mature ones. Add mint and cilantro in large amounts if you've got them!