No, this is not Sicily, I am in Hanoi, in Vietnam. And the Vietnamese eat kohlrabi and the green leaves just like the Sicilians do. I do not know how they cook kohlrabi in Hanoi, but I know how some of my Sicilian relatives cook them.
My relatives who live in Ragusa (south-eastern region of Sicily) make causunedda (Sicilian). These are small gnocchi shaped pasta with a groove in the middle, similar to casarecce. Causunedda is known by different names in other regions of Sicily, for example, gnocculi, gnucchiteddi, cavati and caviateddi (in Sicilian).
The kohlrabi that my relatives buy are usually much smaller in size and can also be tinged with purple. The bulbs have abundant leaves and are sold in bunches. The kohlarabi and their leaves are always boiled in water with some cotenne –strips of fresh pig skin. The pig skin may not sound very appetising, but the results are a velvety flavourful broth that enhance the taste.
Most of the time the Ragusani add borlotti beans as well . The causunedda are cooked in the boiling soup after the kohrabi and leaves are cooked and the pasta is added last of all. In the dish below is a photo taken at my aunt’s house in Ragusa.
See post for Causunedda and Gnucchiteddi
The final result is a wet pasta dish and very delicious. Of course, it is never bought to the table without having had fragrant extra virgin olive oil drizzled on top.
In Vietnam, I am also eating the leaves and tendrils of some sort of pumpkin. These greens are very much like tenerumi that the Sicilians love. In Sicily they are made into a soup.
Here in Hanoi they are stir fried with garlic and presented as greens.The photo below shows the pumpkin tendrils.
- MINESTRA DI TENERUMI (Summer soup made with the tendrils of a Sicilian squash)
- MINESTRA ESTIVA CON ZUCCA LUNGA SICILIANA (Sicilian Summer soup made with the long, green variety of squash)
- FRESH PRODUCE (and I did not have to go to SICILY to buy it). The Melbourne Showgrounds Farmers Market
Although the vegetable markets in Hanoi may look different to those in Sicily, the produce is very fresh and like the Sicilians, the Vietnamese shop daily.
