Moolangi Palya - Radish Curry

Something that has been bothering me for quite sometime now - food blog posts that don't talk about the source of the recipes. Yeah sure, there could be some non-Thai bloggers who knew all about Thai cooking and therefore could post about the various Thai curry pastes and curries they made, without mentioning how they came up with the recipe. But how many, really? Surely it is important to mention how such recipes came about. Right? Or am I being too finicky here? It is difficult to pinpoint plagiarism in Indian cooking, esp given the similar ingredients used in similar curries. I get it that an akki rotti, for example, can be the exact same recipe in many households. But when I see certain recipes that are too pat close to mine or my source's, and neither is mentioned, I wonder sometimes. I know it's an ongoing debate in the food blogging world and there is no solution as such. For me, my blog is also a place to store traditional recipes from my family as well as my own cooking trials and successes (apart from being a wonderful sounding board!). All said and done, we post recipes to share with others and we do like it when people try them out. You may not hear about 99% of the times but the one time you do is very gratifying. All we can do is hope for a cleaner blogging world, one which respects others' work and does the right thing.

Onto Mulangi Palya now. Radish was not one of my favorites as a child, except when my mom made mooli parathas. It did not help that the whole kitchen stank while cooking this root vegetable. Now of course, it is a vastly different scenario! My MIL once made a radish curry using palya pudi which tasted great and we could not even guess what the veggie in the dish was. She herself does not remember the dish nor the recipe now but here I've tried to re-create a palya/bhaji/drier version of the same curry, with great results. Wonderful with rotis. Palya pudi can easily be subbed with sambar powder in this.



Ingredients:

White radish - 3-4 medium sized, peeled and chopped
salt to taste

To grind coarsely:
1 tbsp coconut shreds
2 tsp palya powder
2 tsp dalia/huragadale
tamarind, small lemon size
jaggery, 2 tsp
Asafoetida, a small piece

For tempering oil:
mustard seeds
methi seeds
curry leaves
turmeric



Method:

In a kadai, heat 1 tsp of oil. Do the tadka with the ingredients mentioned above. Add chopped radish, salt and about half a cup of water. Cover and cook until tender. Add the ground masala and adjust seasonings. Mix well. Cook until all the water evaporates. Serve with rotis.

Snake Gourd Bhaji

Did you notice that all of my pictures are starting to look the same? You look at one bhaji or curry picture of mine, you just may have seen them all! Nothing new or different in the layouts. Same old, same old. It is official! I'm in a picture-rut right now!! Let's hope I get my groove back and soon. And hey, I'm cooking. And posting too! I should be happy about that, right? :)

This bhaji started off with trying to re-create this curry. Ended with something slightly different, with the addition of peanuts and palya powder.



Ingredients:

1/2 kg snake gourd/padvalkayi,
1 onion (medium) chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped fine
1/4 tsp tamarind paste
1 tsp palya pudi
salt to taste

For the masala (roast and grind to a powder):
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp peanuts
2-3 red chilies
1 tsp rice

For the tadka:
1 tsp oil
mustard seeds
hing

Method:
In a pressure pan/cooker, do the tadka. When the seeds crackle, add garlic, then onion and saute for a minute or two. Add chopped gourd, the ground masala, a few teaspoons of water and mix well. Close the lid of the pressure and cook for one whistle. Add palya powder, tamarind and salt. Serve with rotis.