Cooking With Seasonal Produce : Moongra Raita (Radish Pods Raita)

A delicious way to eat the seasonal Moongra, also known as radish pods. This Moongra raita is so yummy that you will polish it off in no time 🙂

I try and use as much seasonal produce (see, that is why this Moongra raita!) as I can in my everyday cooking. It is not a surprise to anyone that using seasonal produce is good for health. But more often than not, living in Bangalore, I don’t find the stuff I have grown up with. The stuff that I enjoyed eating which were seasonal.

I do try and use the local ingredients in my cooking. And one thing I have learnt is that most of the ingredients are available may be in a different form or a different name but they surely are available. Such is the story of moongra which are basically radish flowers or radish pods. Moongra looks a bit like beans and tastes like a cross between beans and radish. It has the pungency of the radish but the texture of beans.

I love moongra. Growing up I remember eating aloo moongra sabzi with just a few spices like hing, jeera and chilli and the flavours of the moongra is what made the sabzi so delectable. Last week, a friend of mine posted in one of the food groups on FB saying she found moongra in Bangalore. I knew it had to be bought and cooked with. I promptly went to buy it off and I bought it by the kilograms. I cooked so many different dishes with it . Much to my surprise, the house help said they make it regularly too. See, I told you things are available we just don’t know about it.

As I had bought many packets of  moongra, I ended up making many dishes. The first thing I made out of it was Moongre ki kadhi.

Its no secret for the readers of this blog that I love kadhi and let me assure you that the kadhi made with moongre is even better than the kadhi pakora. I use the same recipe, just that I add one sliced onion and about 3/4 cup of moongre to the whole spices, roast it for a while and then add the besan and curd mix. And no pakoras are needed. Here is the recipe of my mum’s basic punjabi kadhi.

When I posted this picture on the web, another friend shared how his mom used to make Moongra raita by steaming them and I knew this is something I had to try out,. And it turns out all of us at home loved it. We had it with baigan ki sabji and rotis and finished the whole bowl between N and I, since O was at school that day. So simple yet such beautiful flavours.

And to add,

I also made Moongre sambhar suggested by my house help and it tasted fab. A bit similar to mooli sambhar but with the crunch that was so welcome. We made it on the Pongal day and ate it with Pongal and such a winner it was. Use your own sambhar recipe for this, I used one of my favorite sambhar recipe, passed down from my mother in law which uses freshly ground spices for sambhar instead of ready sambhar powder.

There is so much you can do with this tasty humble vegetable, I am going to make a south Indian style thoran with it, aloo-moongra sabzi, uses it in salad for the crunch and also in stir fries. Go get a packet and use this seasonal veggie before it goes away.

PS: all pictures clicked using cell phone so forgive the not so good quality.

Adapted from – A friend’s mom’s recipe 🙂

Cooking With Seasonal Produce : Moongra Raita (Radish Pods Raita)

A delicious way to eat the seasonal Moongra, also known as radish pods. This Moongra raita is so yummy that you will polish it off in no time 🙂

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Course Salad

Cuisine Indian

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup curd
• 1/2 cup moongre steamed
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp jeera
• 1 tsp urad dal
• 1 tsp channa dal
• handful curry leaves
• 2 to 3 chillies red dry
• to taste salt
• pinch hing
• 1 tsp oil

Instructions

 

• Whisk the curd with a little water and salt to get a smooth texture.
• Add steamed moongre and keep aside.
• In a small pan, heat oil.
• Add a pinch of hing, followed by mustard and jeera. When they crackle, add the dals, curry leaves and chilly and roast till slightly brown.
• Add to the curd and moongra mixture, Serve chilled.

Notes

If you make this, share a picture with me on twitter, instagram or Facebook? I would love to hear what you have to say about it !

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!