Seared Tilapia over Shaved Kohlrabi, Snap Pea, and Arugula Slaw
Kohlrabi shaved into cool translucent coins with split snap peas and peppery arugula, dressed with lemon and mustard, under warm tilapia rubbed with cracked coriander.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Kohlrabi is the vegetable I buy every week and then have to decide what to do with, and this is where it goes most often. Shaved into coins on a mandoline it stops being a knobbly green thing and becomes cool, crisp, and juicy, somewhere between a radish and the sweet heart of a cabbage. Piled with split snap peas and a big handful of arugula it makes a slaw that is genuinely the meal, and the fish goes on top as the last thing rather than the point of the plate. It takes half an hour and most of that is shaving.
What I love about eating it is the temperature. The slaw is cold and the fish is hot, so the leaves right under the fillet slump and go silky while everything an inch away stays crisp, and you get both in a single forkful. Coriander cracked coarsely rather than ground has a citrus note that suits tilapia, which is mild enough to take a strong seasoning without disappearing. Dill and scallion keep the plate green, toasted sesame gives it grit, and the lemon in the dressing is doing the heavy lifting on flavor.
This is a warm-weather dinner, the kind that suits a night when the kitchen is already too hot to run the oven. It is also very good for a Sunday when you want lunches sorted, since the slaw sits happily overnight and the fish takes six minutes to cook fresh. If kohlrabi is nowhere to be found, a firm broccoli stem peeled and shaved does exactly the same job, which tells you something about where the sweetness comes from.
Ingredients
- 2 tilapia fillets (about 7 oz total), each cut in half crosswise
- 2 medium kohlrabi (about 14 oz trimmed), peeled deeply and shaved into thin coins
- 2 cups sugar snap peas (about 6 oz), strings pulled and pods split lengthwise
- 3 packed cups arugula
- 4 scallions, sliced very thin on a long diagonal
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh dill, fronds only
- Juice of 1 large lemon (about 3 tbsp)
- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 tsp coriander seed, cracked under a pan
- 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Shave the kohlrabi: Peel the kohlrabi deeply, taking off the fibrous layer under the skin as well as the skin itself, or the coins will be woody. Shave them on a mandoline set to about an eighth of an inch, or slice as thinly as you can with a sharp knife. Drop them into a large bowl as you go.
- Build the slaw: Add the split snap peas, the scallions, and the dill to the kohlrabi. Whisk the lemon juice, the dijon, 1 tbsp of the olive oil, and the black pepper together in a small bowl until it thickens slightly, then pour it over and toss with your hands. Let it sit for ten minutes while you cook, which softens the kohlrabi just enough to bend.
- Toast the sesame and crack the coriander: Toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium for two minutes, shaking constantly, until they smell nutty and a few start to hop out of the pan. Tip them onto a plate. Crush the coriander seed coarsely under the bottom of the same skillet, so you have cracked pieces rather than powder.
- Season and sear the fish: Pat the tilapia very dry, then press the cracked coriander and the salt onto both sides. Heat the last tablespoon of oil in the skillet over medium-high until it shimmers. Lay the fish in and leave it for three minutes without moving it, until the underside is golden and releases from the pan on its own.
- Turn it once: Flip each piece and cook two to three minutes more. Tilapia is thin, so it goes quickly, and it is done when the thickest part turns from translucent to solid white and flakes when you press it with the back of a fork. Take it out while it still looks a shade underdone in the very center.
- Plate it warm over cold: Fold the arugula through the slaw at the last second so it does not wilt while it waits, and divide it among four plates. Set a piece of fish on each pile straight from the pan, scatter the toasted sesame over everything, and eat it while the fish is still hot enough to be soft.
Variations
- Apple and mustard: Shave half a firm apple into the slaw along with the kohlrabi for a sweeter, more autumnal plate that suits the mustard in the dressing.
- Grilled: Cook the fish on a hot grill pan instead, two minutes a side, and the smoke it picks up plays well against the cold slaw.
- Shrimp: Trade the fillets for peeled shrimp seared a minute a side and tossed straight into the warm slaw so they half dress it.
- Herb swap: Use chopped fresh mint and parsley in place of the dill for a brighter, more summery version of the same plate.
Storage & Leftovers
The slaw keeps two days in a sealed container in the refrigerator and is arguably better on day two, when the kohlrabi has softened into the dressing and lost its raw edge. Hold the arugula back and fold it in the moment you serve, since it collapses to nothing overnight.
Cooked tilapia keeps two days and is best eaten cold, flaked over the slaw straight from the container. Reheating a fillet this thin nearly always overcooks it, and cold fish against cold slaw is a genuinely good lunch rather than a compromise.
Nothing here freezes well. Kohlrabi turns to water on thawing and thin white fish goes cottony. If you want to work ahead, shave the kohlrabi and split the snap peas up to a day early, keep them dry in a bag in the refrigerator, and dress them when you cook.
Notes & Tips
- A mandoline earns its place here: Kohlrabi sliced by hand comes out uneven, and thick coins stay hard and woody while thin ones go limp. A steady eighth of an inch is what makes the slaw eat well, and the guard is not optional.
- Split the snap peas: Running a thumbnail down the seam and opening each pod takes three minutes and changes the texture completely. Split pods catch dressing inside, and whole ones just roll around the bowl.
- Dress the slaw early, the arugula late: Ten minutes in lemon and mustard is exactly what the kohlrabi needs to bend. Arugula in the same ten minutes turns to slime, so it goes in at the very end.
- Crack the coriander, do not grind it: Whole seeds crushed under a pan keep a citrus pop you bite into. Ground coriander from a jar tastes dusty by comparison and disappears into the fish.
- Take the fish out early: Tilapia carries on cooking on the plate. Pull it when the center still looks faintly translucent and it will be perfect by the time the slaw is divided.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- The kohlrabi, the snap peas, and the arugula are the substance of this plate and the fish is the finish. Between them the vegetables bring fiber, water, and crunch, while the tilapia adds protein in a portion small enough that the slaw is still what you are eating.
- Kohlrabi is a cabbage-family stem with more vitamin C in a cup than most people expect from something this pale, and shaving it raw keeps all of it. Peeled deeply and sliced thin, it eats sweet and juicy rather than starchy.
- Arugula is peppery because of the same mustard compounds that give the dijon its bite, and for a salad green it carries a genuinely useful amount of calcium. A few big handfuls also make the plate taste like more than it weighs.
- Sesame seeds toasted until they hop are one of the better plant sources of calcium, and they bring their own oil with them, which is why two tablespoons make the whole plate taste richer than the tablespoon of olive oil in the dressing would suggest.
- Cracked coriander, dill, scallion, and a whole lemon are carrying the seasoning here. Coriander seed has a citrus note that meets the lemon halfway, and dill keeps the plate tasting green even after the fish goes on.
- As you eat, notice where the hot fish has wilted the leaves underneath it and where the slaw is still cold and snapping, and let those two textures slow you down between forkfuls.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know I have peeled the kohlrabi enough?
Cut a slice and bend it. If it snaps cleanly you are fine, and if there is a stringy layer that resists, keep peeling. The fibrous ring sits maybe an eighth of an inch under the skin and a vegetable peeler rarely gets it, so a paring knife is the better tool.
The fish stuck to the pan and tore. What went wrong?
It was moved too early. Fish releases itself when a crust has formed, usually at about the three minute mark, and any attempt before that pulls the surface off. Give it a hot pan, oil that shimmers, and then leave it alone until it slides when you nudge it.
Can I use another fish?
Any thin white fillet works. Sole and flounder cook even faster, in two minutes a side, and cod cut into thick pieces needs an extra minute and a gentler hand. Choose whatever looks best at the counter rather than holding out for tilapia.
What if I cannot find kohlrabi?
Peeled broccoli stems shaved thin are the closest match in both sweetness and crunch. Daikon or watermelon radish will also work, though both are sharper, so add a little extra dill to soften the edge.