Radish Stir Fry

Dear Foodies,


I made Mysore rasam a few days back and paired it with this simple radish stir fry. The rasam has a comforting feel attributed to the freshly ground spices that it is made from. My mother very thoughtfully made some kind of a simple veggie stir fry along with it, something that would gel with the rasam and not take snatch away its glory.

I used Red Radishes to make this dish. I dont remember eating the red colored ones in India, radish is called mullangi in Telugu and the one I am used to seeing is white and my mother made Sambar with it (similar to Indira's recipe). When I saw these tiny lil beauties at the grocery store for the first time I was tempted to buy them though I dint know what to do with them. The first few times I made use of them in sambar, but then I was using up just 3-4 at a time and the pack never got over !! So I tried making a stir fry with these and it tasted really good. If you have tasted them, you will see that they are not as strong in taste as the white ones, those were really sharp in taste and even brought tears in your eyes !! But these cute reddies do no such thing. They take well to the spice powders and have a comforting feel to them.

This dish can me made in a jiffy and does not need much of your attention either. Cooking them this way also retains most of their nutrients as they are mainly steam cooked with very little oil used. Here goes my recipe.

Ingredients:

• 10-15 nos - Radishes, the small ones neatly washed.
• 1 nos - Onion, chopped
• 2 nos - Red chilli, dried
• 1 tsp - Mustard seeds
• 1 tsp - Cumin seeds
• 1 tsp - Urad dal
• 1 tsp - Channa dal
• 1 Tbsp - Oil, for sauteing
• Salt to taste
• 1 - 2 Tbsp - *Curry Powder(kura podi)/Dalia Powder or 1 tsp - Coriander powder
• 2 tsp - Coconut flakes (optional)

Procedure:

1. Neatly wash & clean the radishes and chop them. Peeling them is left to your choice. Cutting them is the only tedious part for this dish !! Peel and chop the onion, size same as that of the radishes.
   
2. In a wide pan heat the oil, once hot add the mustard seeds. When they begin to splutter add the cumin seeds and the dals. Toast them till the dals turn a slight red and add the red chilles and then the onions.
3. Saute till the onions become transparent. Now toss in the chopped radishes. Sprinkle salt and cooked covered. The salt will bring out the water in the radish that will be enough to cook them. Sprinkle some water if needed. Stir in between to avoid charring.
4. Once the radish pieces turn soft add the choice of spice powder you use and stir fry for a few minutes, uncovered. Add the coconut flakes now if using.
   
5. Serve with hot rice and sambar/rasam. They also pair well with chapatis.

Notes:

• Other veggies like beans, potatoes, beetroot, carrot, bottle gourd, chow-chow can be cooked in a similar method.
• The Kura Podi I used is the pack my roomies mom made in India and sent it along for us :-) I will try and get the recipe from her and post it soon :-)
  

Green Plantain Chips

This is one of the most easiest dishes I have tried. I had read a lot of recipes for chips from other bloggers and also about the use of oven to make them. So when I found raw plantains in our grocery store I was eager to try some chips. I found that naking them not only saves you from using soo much oil but the chips also stay crisp for a longer time and hold the seasoning better.

Vegetables:

• 2 nos - Green Plantains

Seasoning:

• 2 tsp - Red Chilli Powder

• 1 tsp - Turmeric Powder

• 2 Tbsp - Oil

• Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Scrape the thick outer skin of the plantains and slice them using a mandoline or you can do it with a knife too but make sure the slices are crisp.
2. Preheat the oven to about 300deg C .
   
3. Now toss the slices with oil, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt and neatly arrange them on a baking dish.
4. Place this in the oven. Check on them every 1 min after the initial 5 mins to see if they are done on one side. Take the baking dish out and flip the chips to cook them on both sides.
5. Be sure to use gloves and dont forget that the chips are going to be hot too, not just the baking dish.
   
6. Enjoy your chips :-)

Note:

• The oven I used is a very old one and so I am not sure if the cooking time I have given can be used blindly. Feel free to modifythem as per your expereince
• You can add some Asafoetida in the seasoning too.
• Any kind of vegetable that can be made as chips can be prepared this way. eg: potatoes, bitter gourd, yam.
• I used the same method for bitter gourd chips and they were very tasty. Only difference was I added some garlic salt in the seasoning.

Green Beans Patoli/Usli

Sorry for the long delay in getting this post out. I wanted to have my blog template set before I could start posting.
The first recipe is going to be ‘Green Beans Usli’. The beans I have used are fresh ones. I got them from my recent visit to Jungle Jims, an International Market. It is a huge store, and will eat away half of your shopping day, but you can be sure to find all that you need. The first dish that popped out of my friends’ mind when he saw the beans was ‘Usli’. Usli I thnk is one of the few dishes part of any cuisine in India. All my friends found the dish familiar the first time I made it. The only difference was the name by which they called it. The recipe might sound too complicated but trust me its very easy and worth the extra effort
Vegetables:

• Green Beans

For the Usli:

• 1 cup - Channa dal or Toor dal ( I used equal portions of both)
• 3 or 4 nos - Red Chillis
• 1 sprig - Curry Leaves
• Salt to taste

For popu/tadka

• 1 Tsp - Mustard seeds
• 1 Tsp - Cumin seeds
• 1 Tsp - Urad Dal
• 4 Tsp - Oil

Procedure

1. Soak the Channa dal/Toor dal along with the red chillies & Curry leaves for about 30-40 mins.
2. Wash and de-string the beans if necessary. Chop them into tiny half cm pieces. If using frozen beans, thaw and keep them aside. ( and ofcourse you can skip the cutting part, or the purpose of buying frozen beans is defeated ;-) )
3. In a wide pan, heat the oil and add mustard seeds. Once u hear them popping add the cumin seeds and Urad dal.
4. Once the dals start to turn red add the beans( Take care not to burn the tadka ). Mix well and cover the pan with a lid and let the beans cook on a low flame till they turn soft. You might not have to add water separately as the beans have enough moisture stored in them, but do check. If you feel they are burning, sprinkle a little water.
5. Now grind the soaked Usli ingredients with enough salt and add water to form a coarse paste. Do not add too much water as the next step is to steam cook them.
6. You can make idli-like patties of the dal paste and use a idli stand to steam them or you can just layer the paste on a shallow vessel that fits in you cooker. Steam cook for abt 10-15 mins. ( To check if the dal mixture is cooked, dig a knife into it. If it comes clean without any of the grains sticking onto it, the mixture is cooked else steam cook it for some more time )
7. Once the steamed dal idlies cool down crumble them. Heat some oil in a pan and add this crumble, saute till all the moisture is lost. This might take 4-5 tablespoons of oil. An alternative method is to use the oven. Take the mixture in a baking dish and cook it in a oven at 300 deg C for about 8-10 mins or till you feel all the moisture has left. This step adds crunch to the Usli.
8. By now your beans should be ready, dont forget to check on them at regular intervals. Once the beans are soft add the Usli mixture and mix well. Check to see if there is enough salt.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Note:

• You can add some baking soda to the green beans while cooking them if you wish the retain the green color.
• Using the oven for removing the moisture from the Usli can avoid the use of oil making the recipe low cal.
• You can increase the Usli ingredient measure and store the Usli in air-tight containers in your freezer. It stay good for a couple of weeks. The mixture can be used with veggies like Cabbage, banana flower, raw banana (boiled & grated)
• This dish is dry and so goes best with liquid-based dishes like Sambar, Tamarind based Pulusu/Kozhambu, Majiga pulusu/Mor Kozhambu.