radish recipes. mooli recipes. Winter vegetables make a very attractive sight, especially piled up together waiting to be bought. This is the time when radishes are available in plenty, and few of us can resist the lure of the fresh and plump vegetables. While the leaves add a colorful touch, most of tend to discard them, using only the fleshy red, white or black root.
Interestingly, the rough textured radish leaves can be put to several uses – they have a very strong, peppery-bitter flavour, and when cooked in a specific manner add a unique touch to a dish. Usually medium green, long and lobed with a rough texture, the leaves can also be purplish or smooth. The fleshy root is usually eaten raw. You can chop radish leaves, grate radish and make fortified flatbreads like Mooli Paratha, Radish Nachni Roti and Mooli Thepla. Relish them as it is or serve with a bowl of fresh curd.
Since the greens take a relatively lesser time to cook, they are used extensively in soups, salads or stir fries. They may be used along with other green leafy vegetables to make delicious vegetable dishes such as muthias, parathas, etc. They can also be cooked with lentils, or on their own, blended with spices. Using radish muthias, you can even make delectable Radish Muthia and Green Peas Subzi.
Radishes and their greens provide an excellent source of vitamin C; radish leaves contain almost six times the vitamin C content of their root. The leaves are also a good source of vitamin A and calcium. They help to relieve congestion of the respiratory system including the nose, throat and lungs, caused due to cold, infection and allergies, and can help people suffering from asthma. Toss chopped radish and radish leaves with basic Indian spices to make lip-smacking Mooli Subzi.
Like other members of the cruciferous family (cabbage, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts), radishes contain cancer-protective properties. Throughout history radish has been effective when used as a medicinal food for liver disorders. It contains a variety of sulphur-based chemicals that increase the flow of bile, and thus help to maintain a healthy gall bladder and liver, and improve digestion too. So don’t discard the leaves the next time you buy a bunch of fresh radish – you’ll be doing your health a lot of good!