Ganth Gobi (Kohlrabi): Picking, Peeling and Cooking It Well

That pale green ball with leaves sticking out like antennae is ganth gobi (kohlrabi), and it’s one of the cheapest, crunchiest winter vegetables most people walk past. Pick bulbs no bigger than a tennis ball, peel the tough skin thickly, and eat it raw in salads or cook it like shalgam. Here’s how to choose it, prepare it, and turn it into a curry the family will actually eat, plus what to do with those leaves.

What is ganth gobi, anyway?

It’s a cabbage-family plant, the same species as phool gobi, band gobi and broccoli. But instead of a head of flowers or leaves, it grows a fat, round stem just above the soil. The name “kohlrabi” comes from German: kohl means cabbage, rabi means turnip. That’s a fair description of the taste too. In Urdu and Hindi, “ganth” means knot, which is what the bulb looks like.

In Kashmir, monji is a winter staple, and “monji haak” (kohlrabi with its leaves) is a home favourite. Elsewhere in Pakistan and North India, it turns up on sabzi carts from November, often cheaper than gobi, and often ignored.

Why it’s a good winter swap

In the cold months, a lot of cooking leans on potatoes and heavy gravies. Ganth gobi gives you the same comfort in a curry with far less starch, and it keeps crisp for weeks in the fridge when leafy greens are wilting in two days. It’s also a good bridge vegetable for the gap between the end of winter greens and the start of summer gourds, since the bulbs store so well.

How to pick tender ganth gobi

1. Size first. Choose bulbs 5 to 7 cm across, about the size of a tennis ball or smaller. Big ones are often woody and stringy inside.
2. Weight. It should feel heavy for its size. A light bulb may be spongy or hollow.
3. Skin. Smooth and firm, pale green or purple. Cracks, deep splits or soft spots are bad signs.
4. Leaves. If still attached, they should be green and perky, not yellow or slimy. Fresh leaves are a clock telling you when it was picked.
5. Press. No give at all. Soft bulbs are old.
6. Scratch the stem base. A small scratch with your nail should show moist, pale flesh.

Green and purple kohlrabi taste almost the same, and both are white inside. Purple is just the skin colour. There’s no real “fake” ganth gobi to worry about; the trap is simply size, since big bulbs sell by weight and give you more to peel and throw away.

How to peel and cut it

The skin is thick and fibrous, and so is the layer just under it. Peel it thickly, not like a cucumber.

1. Cut off the leaves and stalks. Keep the tender inner leaves.
2. Wash the bulb under running water.
3. Slice off the top and bottom so it stands flat.
4. With a sharp knife, cut the skin away in strips from top to bottom, going about 2 to 3 mm deep until you see pale, juicy flesh with no stringy layer.
5. Cut into sticks for salad, cubes for curry, or thin slices for stir-fry.

A vegetable peeler works on small young bulbs. On older ones, the knife is quicker and gets rid of the woody layer better. If you still find a tough, stringy patch, cut it out.

How to store ganth gobi

• Bulb: cut off the leaves as soon as you get home (they pull water out of the bulb). Keep the bulb unwashed in a bag in the vegetable drawer. It stays crisp for 2 to 4 weeks.
• Leaves: wrap in a damp cloth and use within 2 to 3 days, like any saag.
• Cut pieces: in a closed box with a little water, 3 to 4 days.
• Freezer: blanch cubes for 2 to 3 minutes, cool in ice water, dry and freeze. Good for curries for up to 10 months; not for salads.

What it does for you, honestly

Ganth gobi is watery and low in calories: a cup of raw sticks (about 135 grams) has under 40 calories and around 5 grams of fibre. It’s surprisingly rich in vitamin C, with a cup of raw kohlrabi giving close to a full day’s worth for an adult. It also has potassium and a little vitamin B6. The leaves are a dark green, and like other dark greens they carry far more vitamin K than the bulb.

So the honest benefit is this: a big, crunchy, filling plateful for very few calories and a lot of vitamin C. That’s useful for anyone watching weight or blood sugar. What’s hype: any claim that it “cleans” your blood or protects you from specific diseases.

Three ways to cook ganth gobi

Monji haak, Kashmiri style (serves 3)

Peel and cut 500 grams of ganth gobi into thin slices and chop its tender leaves. Heat 2 tablespoons of mustard oil until it smokes lightly, then cool slightly. Add a pinch of hing, 2 dried red chillies and the sliced bulb; stir for 2 minutes. Add the leaves, half a teaspoon of salt and 1 cup of water. Cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes until tender. Serve with rice.

Shalgam-style ganth gobi curry (serves 3)

Fry 1 chopped onion in 2 tablespoons of oil, add 1 teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste, 2 chopped tomatoes, half a teaspoon of haldi, 1 teaspoon of dhania powder, half a teaspoon of chilli and salt. Cook until the oil separates. Add 500 grams of cubed ganth gobi and 1.5 cups of water. Cover and cook 20 minutes, until a knife goes through easily. Add garam masala and green dhania.

Ganth gobi salad

Cut 1 peeled medium bulb and 1 carrot into matchsticks. Add 1 small sliced onion, a handful of mint, the juice of half a lemon, a pinch of salt and roasted cumin. Eat it right away while it’s crisp.

Good combos: ganth gobi with dal or chana makes a full meal, since the vegetable is light on protein. Mustard oil and hing are classic because they bring out its sweetness. It works in place of turnip or potato in most sabzi recipes.

Don’t throw away the leaves

The leaves are edible and very nutritious. Young, tender leaves cook like palak or sarson in 10 to 15 minutes; the tough stalks and old, thick leaves are best left out or chopped very fine. Always wash leaves one at a time under running water, as soil gets caught in the stalk joints.

There’s no real skin or hair use for ganth gobi. Keep it for the kitchen.

Myths and surprising facts

Myth: ganth gobi is a root vegetable

The truth: it’s a swollen stem that grows above the ground. People think it’s a root because it looks like a turnip and tastes a bit like one.

Myth: kohlrabi is bad for thyroid, so skip it

The truth: like all cabbage-family vegetables, it has goitrogens, but cooked and in normal amounts it’s fine for most people. The full explanation is in gobi, soya and thyroid.

Did you know?

Kohlrabi, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and kale were all bred from one wild cabbage plant that grows along the coasts of Europe. Farmers who liked the flower bud got broccoli and cauliflower, those who liked the leaves got cabbage and kale, and those who liked the stem got kohlrabi.

Find its cousins, phool gobi and matar, in our Fruits and Vegetables guides, and more cold-weather eating in Season Shift.

Ganth gobi questions answered