Celery Root Salad
Zerrin on 05 16, 2009
Kereviz Salatası
One of my favorite vegetable is celery; I love both its root and stalk and use them in various ways. I know most people hate the smell of celery root or stalk while it’s cooking, but that’s what I love. That scent definitely makes me hungry. I generally use its stalk in some soups, and put its roots in some olive oil dishes or stews. This celery root salad is new to me, I learnt it yesterday and I couldn’t wait more for sharing it with you.
One of our relatives moved to their new house a few weeks ago. There is a lovely tradition here: If someone close to you (in terms of relationship, not distance) moves to a new house, you visit them with a gift for their new house. But you shouldn’t do this by the time they move as it takes some time to establish themselves in their house. Finally we called yesterday and told that we wanted to visit them if it was ok for them, too. The lady of the house is so good at cooking that she always prepares amazing dishes whenever we visit them. So yesterday we knew that a fabulous dinner table would be waiting for us. We thought that the best gift for this couple would be a bottle of Turkish Efe raki as they both love it. When we were in the market to buy raki, I saw a pair of lovely wooden candlesticks just before we left. Of course we bought them as well.
It was a wonderful dinner and night together with them as usual. They were so kind to serve the raki we brought and to put the candlesticks on the table with lighting candles in them. In Turkish culture, if guests bring something to the house as a gift, they expect the houseowners to serve (if it’s a food or beverage) or use (if it’s an object) it in front of them. This is a sign of how valuable the guests are.
We ate all the dishes with a great appetite, but one of them was new to me and I still can’t forget its taste in my mouth. They were so generous to share the recipe, so I’d like to thank to them here. I made this tasty appetizer for dinner today to serve with a kind of meat stew. All of it was gone in just a few seconds.
Ingredients
-Â Â Â 1 celery root
-Â Â Â 3 tbsp mayonnaise
-Â Â Â A handful of walnut, crumbled
-   ½ cup (greek) strained yogurt
-Â Â Â 3 cloves garlic, mashed
-Â Â Â 1tsp salt
-Â Â Â Basil leaves for garnishing
In a large bowl, dilute the strained yogurt with little water. Add mashed garlic and mayonnaise, mix them well.
Grate the celery root in another bowl and then add it to yogurt. Do not wait the grated celery root long before mixing it with yogurt as it quickly starts to blacken.
Now toss the crumbled walnut, sprinke salt and stir. Place leaves of basil and some walnut pieces on the top before serving. This is a wonderful savory food to serve with raki.
Eurovision Song Contest
Celery and Turnip were so excited as this was their first concert before international spectators. Guess what? They were also in Moscow for Eurovision song contest. No, they weren’t contestants there, they were invited as honorary singers. All vegetables and fruits felt so proud of their friends when they saw them on the stage. When they saw the crowd clapping hands and accompanying their song, they decided to participate the next contest. They enjoyed all songs in the competition and they would like to congratulate Norwegians for being the winners. (drawing by mom)
Comments (16)
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- torviewtoronto: this looks delicious
- The Mom Chef: Oh Zerrin...hugs. I'
- Cajun Chef Ryan: Hi Zerrin, So sorry
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- Gera @ Sweets Foods Blog: Sorry to hear about
I’m not a big fan of celery but you convinced me to re-try it!
I’ve the same tradition when someone close to me moves to a new house, it must go there with a sweet gift
Have a great weekend!
Gera
This is a great looking salad and will have to try it sometime.
WOW! This looks absolutely lovely and I want to make it as soon as possible. When I go to the farmer’s market in the next few weeks, I will look for organic celery root and will try it. This is a very healthy dish, thank you Zerrin ;o)
I’ve never liked celery much. I guess it was always the taste that wasn’t too appealing to me. But I do eat it once in a while. But if celery came in a dish like this, I’d eat it.
What a lovely photograph of a delicious dish! I always enjoy reading about your customs; in this case, it was particularly interesting because it is so different for Filipinos! For those who are more traditional, a gift from a guest is opened later, in private, because it is thought that it places the giver in an awkward position of having their present displayed (and its value judged) by everyone present. It doesn’t mean it’s not appreciate, though!
Also, for the very, very traditional, a gift of food or drink is considered something of a rebuke: Filipinos pride themselves in offering an overabundance of food when they invite guests over and such gifts might be seen as implying that the guest doesn’t think the host will have enough for everyone! However, these customs are changing as people are interacting more and more with other cultures and understanding that no offense is intended.
I like celery root a lot. I love the flavor of celery, but not the texture… no texture problem with the root!
Zerrin, cok guzel ve degisik bir tarife benziyor. Hos bir vakit gecirmissiniz dostlarinizla. Tarifi paylasmalari da iyi olmus; bizimle de paylasmis oldular.
Sounds great! I love celery root!
I have all of these ingredients on hand right now. I think I will try it soon. Thanks.
I am not too font of raw celery but i liked it when it’s cooked and I do like the celery root. i’ve had celery root dishes dining out but never made it at home yet. This salad looks lovely.
I’ve never had celery root but heard so many good things about it.
I like celery root too! This sounds great.
Celery root is a good one. We’ve never had it like this, but we’ve mashed it with potatoes, and it’s delish.
The french make this salad too, I love it
[...] I sometimes add it in cake with carrot, I sometimes mix it with yogurt to make a savory food like celery root salad, I use it in most of the desserts like semolina halvah, or fig dessert. And this time I used it in [...]
I love celery root! However, I have only ever had it cooked not raw. I see a trip to the store. Now I have to see if I love it raw!