Food talk
Radish and brinjal delight
Pushpesh Pant

We have always loved muli — horse radish —in its various incarnations. In parantha for breakfast, with tomatoes in a Kashmiri recipe redolent with saunf and saunth, paired with potatoes in thin yogurt gravy or with tori and Simla mirch in Uttarakhand, not to mention in raita or just by itself- spiked with spicy salt and generously squeezed nimbu. Muli can enliven fish as it does in Muj Gad from the Vale and our young friend Sachin has shared with us his mouth-watering recipe for muli-gosht that we intend to unveil soon but let’s come to the point.

This recipe, belongs to the "repertoire of the riches of poverty". When resources are scarce, creativity is triggered by necessity. Innovation is imperative to invent new combos of vegetables that impart a touch of extraordinary to the commonplace. Long baingan, paired with muli, are refreshingly different and provide lip-smacking fare.

Muli-Baingan

Ingredients
Baingan (long dark variety) 200 g
Muli (tender, fresh) 100 g
Whole jeera seeds 1 tsp
Onion (medium-sized) 1
Garlic-ginger paste 1 tbsp
Dhaniya powder 1 tsp
Jeera powder ½ tsp
Haldi powder ¼ tsp
Lal mirch powder ¼ tsp
Salt to taste
Mustard oil 75 ml
Hara dhaniya A small sprig for garnish

Method: Wash the baingan, remove stems and cut lengthwise and then again in halves to obtain batons. Keep in water. Wash, scrape the muli and cut in a similar manner. Heat oil to smoking point, reduce the flame to medium and put in the jeera seeds and when these begin to crackle, add the sliced onions. Stir-fry till onions turn golden then put in the ginger-garlic paste along with the powdered spices and salt dissolved in a little water continue to stir-fry for a minute and then add baingan and muli batons. Mix well and cook covered without adding any water on low medium heat for about 15 minutes. Enjoy with hot phulka or plain parantha.

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