Recipe: Mooli ke Patte ki Sabji - Radish Greens - Vegan

Radish (Mooli) is not a vegetable that used to be cooked in our house, I'm not even sure if it was indigenous to Mangalore or not. But its consumed in large quantities at my husbands place and he loves eating just raw mooli  - the long white variety - with chaat powder or black salt.

So whenever, I saw it in the market, I used to pick it up for him. If I shopped at a supermarket, I used to get them with the heads chopped off, the way carrots are sold, but if I bought it at a sabji mandi (farmers market) the green leafy top used to be attached.

I used to simply chop off the leaves and discard them before even putting the radish into the refrigerator. That was until his mom told me that the greens could be cooked!

This is a variation on how she cooks the radish greens. I cook the greens the day I bring them home (like most greens they don't take kindly to refrigeration)

Ingredients:
1 bowl of radish leaves chopped, you can also use the stalks
1 radish diced finely
1 medium potato finely diced (optional)
4-6 cloves of garlic chopped
1 tsp jeera (cumin) seeds
1 tbsp mustard oil (you can use vegetable oil as a substitute if mustard oil isn't available)
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat the mustard oil and temper with the garlic and jeera.
If you are using the potatoes, add them first and fry till almost cooked. (The potatoes add an extra texture and flavour, but it can be avoided if you want to keep the carbs low, or want a healthier dish)
Add the radish leaves and saute till cooked.
Add the diced radish and give a quick stir.
Adjust salt to taste.

Serve hot with dhal and rotis or rice.