April 2019 – Men Can Make Homes

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Summers are on while the spring is rapidly vanishing alongwith my veggie greens. So while it’s the time to bring in the beans and gourds in the garden, it’s the time for final harvesting of lettuce, radish etc. some of which have been purposely allowed to bolt. After the radish bolts into white flowers, they develop small beans or pods which are extremely yummy and pungent if harvested in proper time.

This salad is prepared with a handful of radish beans, some green chickpeas, some freshly harvested beetroot and some lettuce. It is so refreshing while I am dug up in my subjects and keeps my burning tummy cool and healthy. Very similar in yumm quotient as the sassy egg chaat which I shared sometime back. I have it for breakfast as well as a 4 pm meal and I bet you will not miss trying it at least once since it’s so simple. So read on, try on and party on 🙂 !!

Radish Beans Salad / Mongra Salad

…need to know (food details)

Number of people served : 1 to 2
Preparation time : 5 minutes max.

….and we need (ingredients)

Radish Beans, Mongra, 1 cupful : Regular radish plants bolts after the root has ripened (i.e. it grows buds and generates flowers). These flowers then falls off giving way to the beans or pods (hindi : mongra). While it is cooked in dishes as a pungent veggie, I enjoy it well in my salad.
Beetroot, 2 average sized, 3/4th cup : High in fiber, Vitamin C and manganese to help in immunity, bones, liver, kidney etc. We harvest a decent amount of beet from tubs and sacks in our garden every year. We use the leaves and the stalks as well besides the meaty root.
Lettuce, Loose leaves, 1 plateful : Lettuce is amazing in summers (though hard to find in this season). It’s so hot in Delhi in summers that all my lettuce dries up (if any is left) by early march itself. It has over 90% water and very low fiber. It gives us Vitamin C, potassium, calcium to us adding the mild peppery and crunchy flavor to the salad.
Green Chickpeas, 1 cupful : Green chickpea is less available as against it’s dried counterpart which is a rather popular pulse in Indian kitchens. However, if you can get hold of green chickpeas you have better than peas fresh ones at hand. Raw, crunchy, and high in proteins, fibers and folate and anti-oxidants you would supplement them for peas any good day.
Chaat Masala, 1 teaspoon : Again, one of the most popular Indian seasoning for salads etc. Chat masala is typically made by dry grinding coriander seeds, cumin, carom seeds, rock salt, mint, mango powder and a few other things. Again, besides all the digestive and other heath benefits, the chat masala brings in the ‘Xing’ factor.
Salt to taste : Regular table salt would do in this.
Lime juice, 1 teaspoon : Sour and acidic, with a good amount of citric acid, we add lemon here not just to enhance the sour essence but also to use it’s hydrating and digestive qualities.

….time to cook ‘n roll (preparing instructions)

Get a large light bowl. Large to make space for all veggies and light, so it allows sufficient tossing.
Line up the bowl with lettuce and sprinkle salt across.
Add the veggies, mix them (beet, chopped in 1/2 inch cubes, radish beans and the green chickpeas) and toss them in the bowl.
Squeeze the lemon juice and sprinkle the chaat masala. Toss the salad well to your satisfaction.
There you go !!

Storage : Please do not. It looses the crunch .

Missing Something ? : You can grate some mild pepper like jalapeno if you so seek.

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The festival of Navratras bring glitter in Indian atmosphere, especially so in North and Western India. This is the time when all meat culinary goes for a hibernation and out come the vegetarian conjures.

This is one such moment when the last burst of green were being harvested from my garden in the late springs. I came up with the idea of cooking up a chutney recipe with all the basic greens and throwing in some potatoes as well. Easy Peasy – Yummy Tummy !!

Potatoes in Chili Basil Chutney

…need to know (food details)

Number of people served : 4 to 5
Preparation time : 25 minutes max.

….and we need (ingredients)

Basil, sweet or Thai, 2 bowlfuls : In this I used sweet or Genovese basil leaves which I pluck-wash at my garden. Basil is the “King of Herbs” for many reasons. It is a strong anti oxidant. It fights virus, bacteria and other microbes in the body. I grow 4 to 5 types of basil in my garden and am always looking for new things to do with it.
Olive Oil, 2 tablespoon : Keep the oil light so as not to interfere with the flavor of your dish either in odor or in taste. Besides, olive oil is a great antioxidant, anti inflammatory, is good for heart and weight management.
Garlic Ginger paste , 1 tablespoon : You will hardly find any of my recipes missing garlic. Pungency is the reason why we use this allicin rich clove which combats sickness and common cold.
Cheese cube, 2 100 gram cubes : With all the calcium and protein benefits, cheese here is added for it’s creamy texture and nutty essence.
Green Chilies, 4 : Great for eyes and skin, green chilies are the healthiest ones to bring in the bitter zing in any dish. I used them here, freshly plucked from my garden to bring in their essence. I deseeded them well to ensure it being kids friendly.
Mint, a handful, about 150 grams : Mint is chopped well from our garden since they are extremely easy to grow. They are slightly bitter and sour with an umami essence. It is great for digestion and is a great anti oxidant.
Cumin seeds, 100 grams : Cumin has the classical earthy and nutty essence. Cumin is also extremely popular due to it’s aid to digestion, immune system, respiratory system and being a source of iron.
Coriander, 100 grams : This comes straight from my garden. Gives an orangy zest, coriander is again a blood regulator.
Salt to taste : Regular table salt would do in this.
Onions, chopped, 1 medium : Strong, acidic and bitter. That’s what a good red onion is supposed to be. They are also good sources of Vitamin C and Iron and are good for hair, skin and help in weight-loss.
Lime juice, 1 teaspoon : Sour and acidic, with a good amount of citric acid, we add lemon here not just to enhance the sour essence but also to use it’s hydrating and digestive qualities.

….time to cook ‘n roll (preparing instructions)

Grind the greens to a nice paste. You can wet grind it in a processor. There’s not much risk here to loose flavor but the coarseness should not be felt in the chutney later.
Mix the cheese grated well and keep it aside.
Boil the potatoes firm. Do not overboil else they’ll get mashed badly while cooking. We need to see them in the dish.
Heat the oil in a pan at medium heat till it starts evaporating.
Now add cumin in it and stir till it crackles.
Add the onions and the lime juice and stir for a while. About 4 minutes on medium heat should be good.
Now add the chilies (deseeded) and stir for about a minute.
Add the green paste now and stir cook on medium to high heat for 8 minutes till well done.
Add the boiled potatoes (chopped in an inch cubes). Cook further for 5 minutes. You may cover the pan now.
There you are !!

Storage : Good for storage for upto 3 days at optimum temperature .

Missing Something ? : You can use mustard seeds instead of cumin to cook.