Radish Greens Stir-fry

There is a complete lockdown in Chennai for the past two weeks and things have been chaotic due to Covid-19. The pandemic blew in fear in the masses when it kicked off and as the numbers grew across days, I feel, people have just gotten used to the chaos around them. We are trying to stay indoors as much as possible and refrain from any public interactions. Also the meat and fish supply have been cut off to avoid overcrowding at stores. That said, we have been eating a proper vegetarian diet for the longest now in our lives. I’ve taken the liberty of trying a lot of greens and veggies and tried to make them as interesting as possible. I find myself trying out vegetables that I rarely cooked and tried different dishes rather than the usual anticipated ones. I have only made sambar or tamarind curry with radish. However, this week I got my hands on an entire bunch of radish with the greens still fresh and the minute I spotted it, I knew I had to take it home and try a dish that incorporated both the greens and radishes. I have a weakness for fresh vegetables and fruits. It’s so therapeutic to just keep looking at the fresh produce and pick out stuff to take home.

Fresh radish and greens stir fried with freshly ground spices!

Ingredients

• Radish with its greens – 1 bunch

• Coconut grated – 1 cup

• Salt – to taste

• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

• Channa dal – soaked – 1 tbsp

• Oil – 2 tbsp

For ground spice powder

• Dry red chillies – 4

• Coriander seeds – ½ tsp

• Toor dal – ½ tsp

• Channa dal – ½ tsp

• Urud dal - ½ tsp

• Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp

• Cumin - ¼ tsp

Method

1. Clean and dry the radish and greens. Peel radish and grate for cooking. Finely chop the greens leaving out the thick stem between the green and radish.

2. Dry roast the ingredients mentioned for spice powder in a pan (oil not required). Allow it to cool and coarsely grind using a mortar or mixer.

3. Add oil to pan. When hot enough, splutter in mustard seeds, dry chillies and add the soaked channa dal. Sorte for a min. Add in the radish and stir well for 2 mins. Add in the greens and salt. Cover and cook until done. You may sprinkle a little water for it to cook well.

4. Add grated coconut and ground powder and sorte well for 2 mins.

5. Remove from heat and serve with piping hot rice drizzled with ghee.