Thursday, August 2, 2012

Mulo Chenchki: Dry Fried Radish


'Mulo' is Radish in Bengali. It is a common vegetable that we use regularly. Be it in mixed vegetable mish mash(chochhori) or Sukto(bitter-mixed veggies) or just like that in a bowl of green salad.

Today went for the easiest and simplest of them all, the Chenchki. Chenchki is a dry fried dish. One can use any vegetable to make chenchki, pumpkin, potato, radish, bitter gourd etc. Only one need to cut the vegetables into juliennes(long thin strips). As the veggies are cut into thin strips the cooking time is quite less. And it requires very few spices. For Mulo chenchki you can use either the white radish or the red, whichever is available to you. Some radishes are sweet and some are with  a little spicy kick. Try to use young, fresh one.

I have learnt this dish from my mother-in-law. She always adds some potato along with the radish. And she adds loads of green chilies too. Sometimes she adds a little mustard paste to the dish and that adds a spicy kick. Mustard or no mustard, I simply love that with steaming hot rice. This time I made without any mustard paste. But you can always add some to add that extra zing to your dish.



Ingredients:

Radish (cut into juliennes):2cups
Potato (cut into juliennes):1/2cup
Kalonji/kalo jire/black seeds: 1/4tsp
Dry red chilies :2-3
Green chilies (chopped): 1/2tbsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Salt to taste
Sugar:1tsp
Mastard oil

Procedure:

1. Peel radish and potato wash them well and cut into juliennes. Keep them separately. Try to use young radishes. Aged radishes have string like thing in them with a spongy texture and takes a longer time to cook and above all does not tastes good.
Radish cut into juliennes for the chenchki
Julienned potato

2.Take oil in a kadai or pan, when the oil is hot add kalojire(kalonji) and dry red chilies (broken into pieces). Add the julienned radishes. Cook in high flame for 2-3min. Add salt and turmeric powder, cover the pan and cook in medium flame for 5-6min. By this time the radishes will be tender.

3.Add the julienned potatoes. Mix well cook further for 3-4min in medium flame. Now uncover the pan and add sugar and the chopped green chilies (you can always increase or decrease the amount of green chilies depending on your preference). Cook in high heat till the whole thing takes a nice color and gets a fried look(bhaja-bhaja, as we say it in Bengali). Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly. Serve hot with rice.

Mulo Chenchki: Dry Fried Radish



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