Jicama and Turnip Slaw is a light, refreshing, flavorful condiment for your sandwiches, burgers, and more!
It’s Monday! Have some Jicama.
Last Monday began with Roasted Celery Root and Carrots, and it got me thinking: what would you do if I showed you a root vegetable recipe every Monday? Would you high-tail it outty? Would Mondays be the day you expressly avoid this space, or the day you intentionally come to The Roasted Root?
Would you be all, “yo…cool it wit da woots!” < – I assume you speak exactly as I do…
…or would you be like, “It’s totes Monday and I need a detox. Think I’ll take a gander at what’s cookin’ on The Roasted Root.”?
??
Let’s get cereal, cause seriously, I wanna know if you’re up for all about the roots or if you really just come here for the ice creams. I wouldn’t blame you either way.
But: jicama. Is jicama not the coolest root name ever?
Jicama is a megalorighteouserriffictastic root vegetable. Since this is jicama’s first appearance on The Roasted Root, here’s what you need to know –
Jicama 101
What is a Jicama?: Jicama (pronounced hickuhmuh) is a starchy taproot that has a mild, sweet flavor and is popular in Central America, South Asia, and the Caribbean. It can be eaten both raw or cooked and has a similar texture to water chestnuts with a mild, sweet flavor.
Health Benefits of Jicama: Jicama is full of soluble fiber, which helps stabilize your blood sugar level and promotes digestion. It’s a good source for Vitamin C which is an antioxidant that helps boost your immune system, protects against disease, and is good for your skin and eyes. The root also contains a small amount of copper and magnesium, albeit nothing to write home about. All in all, jicama is a healthful veggie to add to your diet, plus it’s one of the more pleasant tasting roots…so there is that.
How to Cook with Jicama: In order to cook with jicama, rinse the root well peel it using a paring knife or vegetable peeler. The skin does take some elbow grease to get off, but once peeled, jicama can be diced and cooked, sliced, grated, or julienned. There are a variety of ways you can serve jicama, and I really enjoy it in slaw!
This slaw. It’s amazeballs. We’re double root whammy-ing the crap out of it with both jicama and turnip. The slaw is super crunchy/snappy/good for your face. It’s amazing on fish and burgers, and can be added to a green salad to give it a little sprucing. Sidled right up next to pulled pork? That’ll do too!
It’s still slaw season – let’s put ‘er on eee’erythang.
Jicama and Turnip Slaw
Ingredients
- 1 medium jicama root peeled and shredded (3 cups)
- 1 small turnip peeled and shredded (2 cups)
- ½ small head green cabbage thinly sliced (3 cups)
- ½ red onion thinly sliced
- 2 ribs celery finely chopped
- ½ cup fresh parsley chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup grapeseed or olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons stone ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
Instructions
- Wash and peel the jicama and turnip. Using a box grater, shred both root vegetables (as an alternative, you can chop them in quarters and process them in a food processor).
- Add the shredded jicama, turnip, cabbage, red onion, celery, and parsley to a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, cider vinegar, olive oil, mustard, maple syrup, and salt until well-combined.
- Pour the dressing over the veggies and toss well so that everything is coated.
- Serve the slaw as a side dish alongside your favorite entrée or in burgers/sandwiches.
I say bring on the woots! I’ve never cooked with jicama or turnips- isn’t that a shame?
Yep, that’s going to have change very soon. Now I’m dreaming of a sandwich with this crunchy slaw, yum!
Ohhh Sarah, I knew you’d be up for da woots! Jicama and turnip are awesome! When I roast veggies, I include turnip most of the time, and have only really had jicama raw. Lemme know if you try them! 😀
Love jicama! And I’m totally down for roots on Monday!
So glad to hear it, Liz! Thanks for the input!
Wait! Wait! Ok. 1. I thought you had a recipe recently that used jicama because I discussed with you that my grandmother made us eat it so we wouldn’t be ignorant fools. Because, that really did happen (that she said that and we had to eat it). I think it might have been when I was in a deep sleep last week and I’m still confused. 2. You need to tell people how to pronounce it, because there are TONS of people that think if it starts with a J, it should sound like our name begins. How I wish I were kidding. Remember the American Girl series, and one of the girls was Hispanic (can’t think of her name, other than it started with a J–Josephina, maybe?). Yeah, so I was working in the library at that time, and one of the children started arguing with me about how it was spelled and using the J sound at the beginning. I nicely corrected her and she told me I was wrong because her parent had told her otherwise. I decided to wait and let her meet up with Stephie’s high school Spanish teacher. Hahahaha! Ok. I’m done. You’re glad.
LOL, you crack me up! We had the hickamah conversation on InstaG when I posted the picture of my hickamah root. I’ll totes add a note in the post about how to properly pronounce it – smooth thinking…don’t know why I forgot to do that in the first place…probably because I was lacking coffee 😉
This looks really good! I never know what to do with jicama. But this slaw sounds super tasty!
I am so on board with a weekly root vegetable! And I never know what to do with jicama, so this is great. I’d love to slap that slaw on a giant pulled pork sandwich, though, which might negate the health benefits. Sigh.
I love the idea of a weekly root vegetable- it’d make the shopping list easier while keeping dinner interesting! This slaw looks just fabulous.
The roots are radical!!! Keep ’em coming!!! I want to make this for some spicy fish tacos!!!
I am completely down for a root veggie recipe once a week!! Especially since fall is fast approaching and I plan to mainly live off of root vegetables in the upcoming months! I’m kind of addicted to eating slaw and love how unique this recipe is! I’ve only tried jicama a few times but now that I know how awesome it is, I plan on eating much more of it 🙂
I’ve been using jicama for years, always raw. I’ve never tried to cook it. And I tend to use rutabagas in place of turnips because I like the flavor better. I definitely like seeing recipes that use jicama. And I would be on for the roots recipes (sorry, I don’t talk like you 🙂 …)
I am down for ALL THE ROOTS. They are actually my favorite kind of veggie. Just don’t tell the corn or tomatoes. 😛
I haven’t had jicama in FOR.EV.ER. Love it in this fresh and fabulous slaw.
This slaw looks delicious…I love jicama! I can’t wait to try this recipe…thanks for sharing!
Glad you added a pronunciation… oh man, i was totally off 🙂 Looks like an awesome partner for some porks, mon!