Dry Radish Veggie with Chickpea Flour: Moolya chi Peeth Perun Bhaji

The weekend was testing, tough, tiring, sweaty and yet very satisfying; I completed my first mock 21.1 k run on Saturday. There wasn't a great improvement in my timing but hey that will happen in due course of time, I have to be persistent and patient.

The weather was in my favour with the sun hardly peeping out through-out the run which helped me to push myself a bit more than usual. The real test was the last part of the half marathon, mainly the last 3 kms, here the legs were already very heavy, I so wanted to walk for some time instead of running. But the sight of the finish line was calling out to me and I kept pushing myself till the end.  There was one concern post run, which has happened after every long run so far (any run exceeding 18 k is a long run) I threw up and was feeling nauseous throughout the day. I could barely eat anything till evening.

I googled to find out the reason:

• Having a dairy product before the run, I have milk n oats in small quantity before my long run, this could have led to the nausea.  In my next long run I will avoid this and have a toast instead.
• The second reason cited by our physio was the long gap before previous night dinner (7.45 pm) and the small pre run meal the next day (5.30am). She advised me to have a small snack just before going to bed, a non-citrus fruit like an apple, pear to help avoid nausea.
• My next long run is going to be the race day after 2 weeks, but do have a 12k run in between where I will have to try the above two options. It’s criminal to try something new on the Race Day!
• Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping all goes well for The Day!

Getting back to regular cooking is fun; finally cooking some warm food which I can chew on. With my hectic schedule during the weekend, I had already planning this sabji (veggie) on Friday. I wanted to make a home cooked meal, which I could rustle up in no time, to go with some hot phulkas with ghee and dal. Though I had this on saturday evening as I could not eat any food in the afternoon it was all worth the wait.

Ingredients	Quantity
Radish whites (keep separate)	3 fresh medium radishes diced
Radish leaves (keep separate)	Leaves of the above 3 radishes chopped
Refined Oil	3 tbsp
Chickpea flour	3 tbsp
Asafoetida (hing)	A pinch
Cumin seeds (jeera)	1 tsp
Mustard seeds (rai)	1 tsp
Red Chili powder	1 tsp
Turmeric Power (haldi)	½ tsp
Coriander Powder (dhania powder)	1 tsp
Salt	As per taste

Serves – 2-3 persons

Preparation Time – 10 minutes

Cooking Time – 15 minutes

Method:

• Heat oil in a thick bottom pan or a non-stick pan, add 3 tbsp oil first, once the oil is hot add a pinch of hing and mustard seeds, let them splutter then add the radish whites and sauté for 5 minutes.

Dice the radish

Saute the whites

• After 5 minutes; add the greens sauté them for another 2 minutes till the greens start to cook. Then cumin seeds, coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder continue to saute for 4-5 minutes.

• Sprinkle the chickpea flour and sauté, at this point add the remaining oil and sauté for 2-3 minutes till the chickpea flour cooks and you start to get a great aroma!

• Cover and cook for 2 minutes till done. Season with salt.

Note:

• I prefer to add a little oil towards the end as it helps to cook the chickpea flour in the end.
• Another trick that works for me to make this veggie tasty is reducing the strong smell and the bitterness of radish. I use this trick when I do not find fresh small radishes and have to settle for the large one which in my opinion are very smelly. Here's what I do - chop / dice the radish, rub it with salt, leave it aside for 15 - 20 minutes. This helps to reduce the bitterness and the smell. Wash it thoroughly in running water, ensure all the additional salt is removed and then cook.