Jicama, Jicama everywhere! But please not another salad.

May 29, 2009 10:16 AM

Do you have any good recipes for jicama? I am interested in ones that are NOT salads. In particular, do you know of any drinks/smoothies that use jicama? Or of any savory dishes?

I used up about a third of an extremely large jicama to make a really good black bean salad. I have two-thirds of it left, and I am a bit tired of using it in salad form. Do people ever cook jicama? Searching recipe sites would suggest no, but maybe other (non-American) cultures do? If not, drinks recipes or non-salads would do the trick. Thanks.

posted by bluefly to food & drink (18 comments total)

Sorry but I can't think of anything better to do with this wonderful stuff except slice it and squeeze some lime juice over it. Divine. Some things cannot be improved upon.
posted by charlesminus at 10:20 AM on May 29

I like jicama in sushi rolls. Jicama and avocado rolls -- mmm!

I also love jicama just chopped into pieces and dipped in delicious sauces, but that may be too close to a salad application for you.
posted by Ms. Saint at 10:20 AM on May 29

I use it in chili. Just treat it the same as any other vegetable - chop and toss it in towards the beginning, then let it simmer along with everything else. The crunch doesn't go away and, particularly in vegan chili, which I used to make a lot, it's fantastic.
posted by mygothlaundry at 10:25 AM on May 29

I've had it made into ravioli before. A quick google search for "jicama ravioli" turned up some hints you can probably work off of.
posted by zap rowsdower at 10:26 AM on May 29

I would use it in stir fries in the exact same way you'd use water chestnuts.

Or, as part of the crudite in bánh mì; think crispy french bread, warm tender morsels of beef flecked with cilantro, and crispy matchsticks of carrots and jicama with sliced cucumber.
posted by Juliet Banana at 10:28 AM on May 29 [1 favorite has favorites]

I'm sure charlesminus meant to say, lime juice and chili powder. Yum!

I would guess you could add it to a stir-fry, and hopefully it would turn out as a substitute for water chestnuts, but I've not tried that.

There are recipes for cooked jicama. Here's one that adds it to fajitas.
posted by Houstonian at 10:29 AM on May 29

I know that Gado Gado is usually labelled as salad in the West, but it really is a delicious savory dish. Here's the recipe. It's the peanut sauce that makes it awesome.
posted by spec80 at 10:42 AM on May 29

When I'm making a big fruit salad I cut a jicama into french fry shapes and put a layer of them at the very bottom of the container so that they're submerged in the juice. It absorbs all of the different fruit flavors while retaining the crispy texture and its own mild flavor.
posted by XMLicious at 10:52 AM on May 29

(So you get flavored jicama "fries"; I remove them from the salad after they've had a while to marinate and eat them separately.)
posted by XMLicious at 10:54 AM on May 29

I have made Jicama Hash Browns before and they are pretty tasty.
posted by genefinder at 11:00 AM on May 29

Jicama Jar-Jar Binks. Yes, it's still a salad. No, I'm not being helpful.
posted by chairface at 11:16 AM on May 29 [1 favorite has favorites]

There's a Vietnamese place near me that uses matchsticks of raw jicama in cold spring rolls, accompanied by vermicelli noodles, matchstick carrots, avocado pieces, lettuce leaves, hoisin sauce, crushed peanuts, cold shrimp or chicken, bits of scrambled egg, mushrooms, cilantro, and mint. They're dee-lish.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 11:49 AM on May 29

Jicama is a standard crunchy-starchy veggie and it's totally flexible, so I think you might really benefit from the recent thread on abstract/flexible recipes.

You could absolutely throw it in most smothies, especially if you can blend them very fine. It would give interesting body and bulk and not much obvious flavor.
posted by kalapierson at 12:11 PM on May 29

Along similar lines as the jicama hash browns above, jicama fries are pretty yum too. Make sure you get them good and brown and sprinkle with a little salt, cumin and cayenne, maybe a squeeze of lime. Yum.
posted by peacheater at 1:51 PM on May 29

jicama "cake" at a raw food potluck once and it was amazing! I actually used the flavors in the recipes to make a smoothie that was jicama, apple, vanilla, banana, almond, lemon, with some poppy seeds. I like the jicama/lemon/poppy combo.
posted by melissam at 2:55 PM on May 29

jicama can be substituted for water chestnuts in savory snacks as mentioned above like spring rolls but I have used it with egg rolls (cha gio) and dumplings.
posted by jadepearl at 5:18 PM on May 29

well, this may qualify as a salad, but you can add diced jicama to a pico de gallo-style salsa to good effect. Also, it fares well in a quick pickle (i.e., salt generously, let sit, rinse off salt, then mix with something acidic and a bit more salt for a few more minutes).
posted by LMGM at 5:18 PM on May 29

Thanks for the ideas folks, especially to substitute jicama for water chestnuts in Asian dishes -- I would not have thought of that. I'm definitely going to make that smoothie melissam!
posted by bluefly at 8:24 AM on May 30