It was like one of those moments in a post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel. I walked into the supermarket and pretty much the only veg available was row after row of green, alien-looking, kohlrabi. I mean, who knows what to do with kohlrabi other than put it in coleslaw?

Some might see this a reason to reach for the takeaway menu but I saw it as a challenge. After all, the last time I was in New York, the city was in the grip of some sort of salad lunch revolution. Food trucks and food stalls were everywhere, takeaway plastic containers and cups weren’t on the nose, and celeb chefs seemed to be turning towards opening takeaway places selling alkaline waters, deli salads, and cake-batter ice cream (like the next incarnation of cookie-dough ice cream).

Sorry, I was rambling as I got myself into a little splash of astral travel there. Kale was in everything, often with celtuce or kohlrabi, which were both jostling for the mantle of ‘next cool vegetable’.

I’ve seen kohlrabi pop up on menus both here and overseas for a little while. At Blue Hill (one of the best restaurants in the US), chef Dan Barber has served the veg young, peeled and raw as a crudité with a nasturtium puree, or sliced super-thin to use tortilla-like in a ‘burrito’ filled with swordfish, ham hock and bean guacamole. Back in Sydney, Aria’s exec chef Joel Bickford had been shaving kohlrabi wafer-thin to ceil over delicate sweet mud crab meat, and out at Brae in Birregurra, Victoria, Dan Hunter’s signature dish was a two-part prawn taco using a thin kohlrabi disc as the shell. At Orana in Adelaide, there was a dish of kohlrabi, Dorrigo pepper, lemon myrtle and quandong. While in Queensland, kohlrabi was served with roast duck, a white onion puree and pickled cherries at Ricky’s in Noosa.

It seemed inconceivable that this most loneliest of veg, an unloved and misunderstood wallflower, could turn into the belle of the ball. Inconceivable but intriguing.

This started my desire to work out the best way to serve kohlrabi at home. How can we take what looks like a swollen stem of broccoli that has ballooned out to resemble a retro comic-book satellite and make a beautiful dinner for the family or your friends? A dinner that won’t be pushed away with disdain by a texta-stained, pre-school fist, or have your mates questioning whether you’ve gone all ‘Kanye’ on them (which happened to me during that unfortunate ‘roasted kiwi fruit are the future’ incident last year).

What I found was that this chameleon of a vegetable changes flavour depending on how it is cooked. It also has a texture that goes from apple-crisp when raw, to creamy like a parsnip when roasted.

So here are the nine best ways to use kohlrabi. The final one is so good I’d happily see kohlrabi topple kale from its brassica pedestal.

IN A BAKE
Try kohlrabi, thinly sliced, layered with potatoes, thyme and cooked in sour cream, stock and cheese. If that’s too much of a hassle, cut it into cubes and fry it slowly in butter, with a bay leaf and some thyme. Serve it as unusual side dish with roast chicken or boiled Polish sausage or your favourite wurst. Season well.

IN COLESLAW
It’s interesting that the German word for cabbage that gives the ‘cole’ to coleslaw also gives kohlrabi its start. The flavour of raw kohlrabi is like sweet young cabbage. If you head to delicious.com.au you can find kohlrabi slaw recipes, such as Cornersmith’s kohlrabi, cabbage and spring herb slaw with pickled cumquats.

IN A CURRY
Although kohlrabi grows above the ground it cooks a little like a root or tuber, which is perhaps why it pops up in both wet and dry curries in Bangladesh, West Bengal and the Kashmir Valley. As kohlrabi has quite a neutral flavour – think broccoli stem or sweet radish – it picks up spices well but also can lose its identity if the flavours are too big. Perhaps a kohlrabi korma is a nice way to start, with mild spices, and the creaminess of the plant matched with ground almonds or cashews.

ON THE GRILL
Kohlrabi champion Scott Pickett has served wood-roasted kohlrabi with seaweed and kombucha at Melbourne’s Matilda 159, but if Japanese flavours aren’t your thing, grill fat chips of kohlrabi on the barbecue and serve either drizzled with good olive oil and dusted with parmesan, or with a dip of sour cream, dill, parsley and a little vinegar.

IN A SALAD
While kohlrabi takes Japanese flavours well – try serving it raw in a sushi rice salad with a wasabi mayo, avocado, pickled ginger, edamame and sesame seeds – it also shines in Vietnamese dishes. Luke Nguyen pairs it with tamarind, fish sauce and Vietnamese mint in a salad to partner warm grilled beef. Here, its crispness plays a little like an alternative to jicama – another sadly under-appreciated vegetable.

STEAM IT
Given its firmness, you can steam batons or cubes of kohlrabi and then get all Eastern European by drowning it in a nutmeg-spiced white sauce or bechamel. This is great with pork chops or quality sausages.

PICKLE IT
Toss batons of kohlrabi in a little salt and more sugar. Stand for five minutes and then cover with a style of vinegar that reflects the flavouring you’ll be using. This pickle is great with fatty dishes like roast pork belly, even better if there is apple involved.

You could also cube it to use in chutneys. Treat kohlrabi like the rutabaga or swede which is a prime ingredient in Branston pickle. If you want to go fancy with your cured or pickled kohlrabi, try Ragazzi’s Scott McComas-Williams’ scallop and cured kohlrabi tartare. You’ll find the recipe at delicious.com.au.

SOUP IT
Pair kohlrabi with anything, from celeriac or parsnip to leftover broccoli stems and cabbage hearts, in a winter soup. Grate and cook in stock or milk. If you go the stock option, use a pure vegetable stock and add ground raw cashews to make the soup creamy and vegan. Kohlrabi can sub in for potato in pretty much any winter vegetable soup.

ROAST IT
I think this is undoubtedly the best way to eat kohlrabi. Dunk them in heavily salted water* for five minutes and roast whole for 90 minutes in a 160-degree oven, or until soft-hearted. The flesh will become almost fluffy and sweet…tasting somewhere between an artichoke heart and a swede. Slice the top off and eat out the insides with a small spoon. All it needs is a little salt and a slice of cold butter but if you want to get fancy make a little sauce from whisky, butter and black pepper. Divine!
(*No, I not sure what dumping them in the salty water does but ABC Breakfast’s Alice Zaslavsky taught me to do it that way, and it works so why question it!)

REMEMBER

• Leaves are also a good sign of a fresh kohlrabi – pick one with perkiest looking leaves
• You can eat the leaves, too, serve them sauteéd like silverbeet
• Kohlrabi comes in three colours – pale green, white and purple – but they all taste pretty much the same
• Kohlrabi has a tough outer skin and fibrous base which need to be peeled before cutting. If roasting you can just scoop out the soft-cooked interior