thecookscottage

Mooli Greens- Radish Greens

Since we in negative inflation right now and the monsoons are back on track, most citizens, including me, wonder why the prices of vegetables and fruit continue to go through the roof. My bhaji wali, who is a sweet woman, even though her manner of speaking borders on the filmy like Sushma Swaraj ( a little high pitched and coy with great lip movement), gets more and more patronising with me as my vegetable buys get more stringent. She professes complete helplessness when asked why the vegetables in her basket are so expensive.

In actual fact the farmers are still selling at the same price they always were.They have not benefitted in the least by rising prices. Its the middleman who is making a fortune.When is the government going to intervene to get things back on track?

Meanwhile greens are the best thing to go back to. They are (relatively) cheap and infinitely tasty.Since we have such a variety we will not get easily bored with our bhajis.

Ingredients

1 bunch of mooli greens
2 tsps oil
1 tsp jeera
4 cloves garlic chopped very fine
1 medium onion chopped
1 handful roasted peanuts

Wash the mooli greens very well. Then dunk in a pan full of boiling water leaves and stalks and all. Cook for 20 minutes in plenty of water. Drain and squeeze out water. Chop.
Heat oil and saute the garlic and onions till soft and golden brown. Add the cooked mooli greens. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Add the roasted broken peanuts and cook for 8 minutes more. Serve with chapathis or rice.

Shepu Bhaji- Dill and lentil vegetable

This is for Kushal who requested some more recipes using some of the wide variety of greens available- "I can't have saag / palak paneer / sai bhaji ALL the time," he writes.

Heeeere's shepu!!

Ingredients

2 tsps vegetable oil
1 bunch of dill /shepu about 3-4 cups of chopped dill
 2 tablespoons of yellow split mung lentils / moong dal
 1/2 tsp jeera
 6 cloves of garlic chopped fine
1 green chilli chopped
 1/2 tsp salt

 Soak the moong dal for half an hour. Wash and chop the dill in the meanwhile. Heat two teaspoons of oil in a pan, add the garlic and saute for a minute then add the jeera and green chilli. When the jeera sizzles add the chopped dill and moong dal. Cover tight and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes till the moong is soft and the dill is cooked. (Do not add water unless you absolutely have to and if so just a tablespoon.) Add the salt and give it a good stir. Serve.

 Super simple! 

Stuffed Bitter Gourd- Karela Sabzi a la Asha

In Bombay recently I visited an old friend where I was lucky enough to catch Asha cooking lunch.
It is a pleasure to watch her cook, very calm and collected and precise. Without making a mess in a four foot area for preparation and cooking ,she  produced three dishes in precisely half an hour. They were all simple recipes, without chilli and just delicious with red rice and a glass of buttermilk.

Ingredients:
6 small karelas/ bitter gourd
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp amchur / raw mango powder
1 tsp jeera powder/ cumin
1 tsp dhania powder/ coriander
1/4 tsp haldi / turmeric
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Water

Wash the karela well and grate the peel down. Add the salt, mango powder/amchur, the cumin and coriander powder and haldi / turmeric  and mix with the grated peel. Slit each karela down the side and scoop out the flesh and seeds. Mix with the grated peels and spices.Stuff each karela with the mix.
Heat a  3 litre pressure cooker and add  the oil.When hot fry the karela in the oil for a few minutes. Add one and a half cups water and shut the pressure cooker putting on the weight.Let it cook for three whistles then turn fire to low and cook for another 5-8 minutes. Take the cooker off the fire and check if cooked/. If there is too much water cook until the water evaporates.