Radish Flowers

See the bee?

Last year, I had planted some radish plants. They were the simplest things to grow, and I had a very good yield. Apart from crunchy radish, they also produce the most beautiful flowers. These pictures are from last year.

This years radish are still waiting to sprout. If anyone out there is a newbie to gardening, and want some easy-to-grow plants, radish is the way to go. I didn’t use the flowers in cooking last year, but I am sure they would be great as a garnish.

It’s been a while since I have participated in my favorite event. Submitting home grown radish flowers for Flower Fest.

Radish curry- saute with onions, garlic and chili.

This curry follows the basic principles of making Kerala style mezhukkupuratti. The addition of garlic is not common, but we do add it while making plantain mezhukkupuratti.

Recipe:

Ingredients

A bunch of red radish – contains 6 to 8 radishes.

Onion- one small, sliced.

Garlic- 2 or 3 small cloves crushed

Green chilis – 8 small, crushed

Turmeric powder- a pinch.

Oil for saute

Mustard seeds – a pinch

Curry leaves- a sprig

Salt to taste

The leaves: Roll all the leaves together and slice into long shreds.

Method:

Clean the radishes and cut them as you would slice an apple. Clean the leaves, if you want to use them in the dish.

In a pan, add some oil. When it is hot, add the mustard seeds.

When the mustard seeds splutter, add curry leaves and onions. Saute for 3-5 mins till edges of the onions turn slightly brown.

Add the crushed garlic and chilis, and turmeric powder. Saute for about a minute or even less.

Add the radishes, mix well and add salt. Cook covered for about 3-4 mins.

Once the radish seems soft, remove the lid and crank up the heat. Saute on high heat for a couple more minutes. The radishes will be soft yet crunchy.

After you remove the radishes onto a plate, in the same pan quickly saute the leaves for a few seconds and add it to the top of the radishes.

For best results, serve right off the stove. The dish takes less than 15mins. Make this right before your meal.

Green Blog Project _ Radish Pachadi ( radish in yogurt)

Finally after days of eyeing them, I finally decided to uproot some of my radishes. Aren’t they pretty? Radishes are very easy to grow and hardly any maintenance. They mature very fast. These were grown in some organic garden soil with no fertilisers whatsoever. I plucked out 5 plants today to make some pachadi.

Radish in ground

Pachadi in Kerala, or atleast in Kottayam is a mix of fried stuff( onions, ginger, chili and/or any other veg. like carrot,beetroot ) added to yogurt. The dish is spicy and hot, and is a wonderful side dish.
These red radishes are not usually available in Kerala. So, this happens to the first time I am using radish in a pachadi. The whole process takes about 10min and is quite healthy too.

Recipe

Radishes cleaned and cut into small pieces 5 small or half cup

Few radish leaves cut into thin shreds

Onion diced fine 1/4 cup,Chilies 2 or 3 finely chopped, Ginger 1/2 tsp chopped, coriander leaves-i tbsp roughly chopped

Oil 1.5 tsp, mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp, salt 3/4 tsp(variable)

Yogurt half cup or more

The method is really simple. Heat a small pan on medium heat. Add oil, crack the mustard seeds. To this add onions,ginger and chilies. Stir till it is soft and turns slightly brown (4 mins). Add radishes and leaves, cook for 2 more min and remove from fire. The radish will be just cooked and still have a bite to it. Sprinkle the coriander just before you remove it from the stove.You can let it cool or store it in the fridge if not using immediately.

When ready to serve, take the sauteed ingredients andmix with yogurt. Adjust salt depending on the sourness of the yogurt. Serve immediately. If you let it sit for some time, the yogurt gets a purple hue from the radishes. It is beautiful!

I had this with rice accompanied by rasam from SH.

My submission for LG‘s Green Blog Project.

pachadi kerala food radishes