Mulyachi koshimbir (Radish raita)

A bunch of red radishes

This one is a very ‘everyday’ Maharashtrian dish. Something that you would see on the table at my parents’ place every few days, but rarely when there would be guests coming around for lunch/dinner. Radish or Mula (in Marathi) or Mooli (in Hindi) is a vegetable which many people do not like or avoid. I guess it is because of the strong smell it emanates and also because of the bad breath that may stay with you for some hours. I have no problems with the former, and the latter is anyway something that others will have a problem with. Well, tough luck, guys! I will have my radish when I have to.

Now, Koshimbir or Raita is something that Nupur of One Hot Stove has already written about. So, I will proceed straight to the recipe.

Recipe for Mulyachi Koshimbir (Radish Raita)

Ingredients:

A bunch of red radishes (mine had 24 of them)
½ cup yoghurt
salt to taste
some coriander leaves for flavour & colour

1 tsp oil
¼ tsp mustard seeds
2-3 green chillis

Method:

1. Clean, wash and grate the radishes. A food processor with a grater attachment (or an enthusiastic/obedient husband) will come in handy. My radishes yielded 1 1/2 cups gratings. You could take the same amount of white radish instead of the red variety.
2. Squeeze the gratings lightly in your palm and transfer them to the bowl in which you would like to serve the Koshimbir. (I know there will be loss of nutrients when you squeeze out the juice, but if this is not done, the Koshimbir will be totally watery and unenjoyable.)
3. Add the yoghurt to the radish gratings. Add salt and chopped coriander leaves.
4. Cut the chillis in pieces a centimetre long.

5. Heat oil in a pan/tadka ladle.
6. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds. Let them splutter.
7. Add green chillis and take the pan/ladle off heat. This way the chillis won’t discolour.
8. Let the pan cool down. This is VERY necessary as otherwise the hot oil can ruin the taste because it would make the yoghurt bitter.
9. Mix the Koshimbir well. Garnish with some more chopped coriander leaves, if you like.
10. Serve as a side dish with rice and dal or chapatis at room temperature . Or chilled in summer (What’s that? We don’t get it here in Germany).

If chilling/storing in the fridge, make sure that it is tightly covered, otherwise it will transfer its strong smell onto other food stuff.



Tags: Radish, Raita