Mooli/Radish and my favourite dishes : Mooli Parathas, Salad and Sambar

Mooli Parantha /Radish flatbread

It's a desi  flatbread prepared with radish/mooli, it's leaves and masalas.
Its is a tawa fried desi flatbread. 

Sinch its prepared with grated mooli/radish and spices, its called mooli paranthas. 

I love the crunchy, delicious, mooli, there are basically two varieties available during winter season, it's pink mooli and white mooli. 

A few days ago we were at Delhousie on our vacation, we travelled extensively in the mountains, did trekking and drove all the way to Padri Jot by road. The view is breathtaking from the top of the view point.

We bought a kilo of fresh, tender, pink mooli from the street vendor for 50 rupees. Also he made a lip smacking radish salad with cucumber and apple. He little bit of chat masala and few more spices, a dab of hari chutney, a delicious plate of absolutely delicious salad. 

I love the crunchy mooli, the tender cucumber and sweet apple. A lovely combination on a cold winter afternoon.

Back to our Airbnb stay, I handed over the bunch to the cook, who was everso willing to show me his culinary skills. 

I requested him to prepare mooli parathas for next day morning breakfast with ghee, I disliked the oil they were using. 

He then asked would you add the leaves when you cook? Knowing very well how nutritious the leaves are I said, yes I do. Please add them. He nodded his head.

A delicious, crunchy, hot hot parantha  stuffing is made out of grated fresh mooli and its tender leaves is a great treat to the tongue. A winter vegetable mooli, a spicy tangy parathas with unsalted butter and a cup of curd. Yum! 

Our breakfast is usually served with a cup of masala chai and paranthas. We relished our breakfast and appreciated the cook for the efforts and serving us travellers tasty breakfast.

Mooli Parantha

INGREDIENTS
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup grated mooli with its leaves chopped.
1 green chilli finely chopped
A small piece of ginger grated
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp jeera
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp chat masala
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp salt
Ghee to roast

Method

* Knead semi soft dough add salt a little oil and keep it aside. 

*Extract the excess water from mooli. Spread it in a bowl, Add chopped leaves, chilli, ginger grated, all spices. Mix in keep aside. Add salt towards the end of stuffing so that the filling is dry. 

*Divide atta into 8 parts, 

*Roll out and fill in a tablespoon stuffing, close it and roll out big using bellan/rolling pin. 

*In a preheated tawa/pan place the rolled out paratha, flip it after two minutes, apply ghee, flip over again, apply ghee on the other side, roast both sides till golden brown.

*Repeat the process for all the paranths, serve hot with choice of your pickle, curd and butter, 

*A cup of masala chai to add the zing to your breakfast. 

Notes 

Extract excess juice from grated mooli, add it to Atta. 

Finely chop mooli leaves, they taste good as stuffing. 

Roll out little thick Parathas. And cook in high flame, pour ghee or oil on both sides. 

You can also try rolling two chapatis and stuff mooli inside, after sticking them together, I have shaped them by cutting the parathas. 

Mooli salad 

Fresh pink or white mooli  2 no

Cucumber 1 no. 

Apple 1 no

Method 

Wash, peel and chop mooli, cucumber and apple. Mix in a small plate, add chat masala, a little hari chutney and black salt. Serve. 

Mooli/Radish sambar 

Recipe 

https://jayanthisindianrecipes.blogspot.com/2014/03/raddish-sambhar-beans-carrot-thoran.html?m=0

Ven Pongal (Breakfast)

Sunday breakfast generally is bit elaborate than other days of the week. 

A delicious breakfast option is pongal, it's a perfect blend of rice and lentils (moong dal) 

Ven Pongal

Ingredients 

Basmathi rice 1/2 cup

Moong dal 1/2 cup

Jeera 2 tsp

Black peppercorns 1 tsp

Green chilli 2 slit in halves 

Ginger a tiny piece, thinly sliced 

Curry leaves a few 

Salt and water as required 

Ghee 1 tbsp

Cashewnuts 1 tsp (broken) 

Method 

*wash basmathi rice and moong dal, keep aside. 

*In a heated pressure pan pour ghee add jeera and crushed pepper, green chillies and ginger. Once jeera splutter and rice and moong dal, gently mix in, add salt, heeng, curry leaves and 4 cups water. 

*close the lid and cook in low flame for two whistles. 

*Once done, remove lid, gently smash the Pongal, we want a soft consistency, if required add 1/2 a cup of boilied water. 

*Do a quick tadka of little ghee and broken Cashewnuts. 

*Serve hot with sambar and chutney. 

Milagu kuzhambu (Black peppercorns gravy)

Milagu kuzhambu or Peper gravy is a traditional side dish made at our homes. It has many benefits apart from being a favourite dish. 

Ingredients 

Tamarind - a big gooseberry size
Salt & Water - as needed
Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp

To roast & grind

Gingely oil - 1 tsp
Pepper corns - 2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 2 no. for spice, 2 no. for colour 
Jeera - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 to 3 strings 

For the tadka 

Gingely oil - 1 tbsp
Mustards  - 1/4 tsp
Heeng- a big pinch

Method 

Soak tamarind in warm water for 15 minutes and take the extract. Keep aside. 

In a small preheated pan roast peppercorns, jeera, coriander, urad dal, curry leaves, red chillies till pepper corns splutter and urad dal turns golden brown and emit the aroma. 

After its reaches room temperature,grind it to a coarse powder. 

In a preheated pan, pour gingely oil and do a quick tadka of gingly oil, mustard and a spoonful of manathakalli.(this is a twist in the recipe) 

In a stoneware add the tamarind extract,salt,turmeric powder, heeng. Allow it to Let boil till its raw smell goes off.

Now,  add the ground pepper powder and boil well till the gravy thickens. Adjust salt. Off stove pour the tadka, serve milagu kuzhambu with hot rice, ghee and roasted papad. Yum! 

Mixed vegetables soup

Dinner mixed vegetables soup, its quite interesting how simple soup can be so filling and delicious.

You can pick any vegetable from your kitchen and create this simple soup, I have thinly sliced one cucumber, one carrot, a few cabbage leaves, a thin slice of yellow pumpkin, a handful of peeled peas, its thin skin, in a pressure cooker place all thinly sliced vegetables add two cups of water, bring to boil, add a pinch of salt crushed peppercorns, serve hot. 

Isn't really simple, I would love to hear your comments. 

#cucumber #carrot #peas #cabbage #yellowpumpkin #sweetpotatoes #crushedpeppercorns #photography #c3#chefstagram #chefclub #cleaneating #goodfood #earingright #bbcgoodfood #bbcfood #yummilicous #droolclub #photooftheday

zucchini soup

A bowl of #zucchini #soup for breakfast. Its the most simplest way to eat #vegetables without adding any #masalas. I have thinly sliced the zucchini and cooked it in two cups of water, added a pinch of #salt and one tablespoon chopped #coriander leaves.

Cook the zucchini in earthen pot for about 3 minutes. A little lemon extract for that tangy taste, Off stove, relish the delicious soup.

You can add sliced #radish, #cucumber and #carrots if you like. It's the best you can do to #leftover vegetables in the refrigerator. 

Masala chai

I don't know when and how I started loving tea, it was a slow friendship but I know its a strong bond.

I like it with milk, without milk, flavoured, after I started enjoying my cuppa tea I realised there are many interesting recipes world over in brewing tea.

Once I heard a story, it's chinese folklore that tea was invented by just boiling its leaves on large pots, but soon became a popular drink as it elevated the person who drank it.

Then there is irani tea, I know a shop where they sell exclusive irani chai, even the name of the shop is so!

As my desire grew to explore more flavours of humble tea, I came across kashmiri khawa, then our own malabar sulaimani chai.

My love affair with tea is not ending there, I have tasted silver leaves tea in Sri Lanka, green tea at Munnar,  hibiscus tea, black berry, cardamom, clove, ginger, aracanut, peppermint, mint, moringa, mulethi and lemon, blackcurrant, apple and cranberry, chamomile, blueberry and honey, oolong tea....

Don't you feel like having a cup of freshly brewed tea right now?

Lentils crepe (Adai)

#Lentils crepe (adai) it require overnight soaking of chana dal, urad, tuvar, masoor, green moong with the skin and boiled rice for about 8 hours.

Morning grind it with two green chillies, jeera, crushed pepper and salt to a coarse paste. Add chopped coriander leaves and heeng powder. Adjust salt.

Heat thick dosa tawa, grease it with little gingly oil, spread a ladle full of batter, cook both sides until golden crispy.

Serve with coriander chutney.

Coriander chutney

A bunch of fresh coriander leaves, wash and dry. In a mixer grinder add chopped coriander leaves, two green chillies, one chopped onion, one lemon extract, salt and sugar. Grind by adding a little water if needed.  Adjust salt and serve with lentils crepe.