April 6, 2007

RADISH KADHI

Radish Kadhi/soup is my contribution this week's Kalyn's "Weekend Herb Blogging" hosted by my buddy Anh from "Food lover's journey" this week!:) My choice of vegetable this week for WHB is beautiful homegrown red Radishes! Thanks and happy Easter Ahn:)



Garden fresh red Radishes:

I thought I would take a break and not cook for WHB this week until I found that Anh is hosting!!Now how can I not contribute when Anh is hosting?!;D

Some facts:
Radishes are rich in ascorbic acid, folic acid, and potassium. Relative to their caloric value, they are a good source of vitamin B6, riboflavin, magnesium, copper, and calcium. One cup of sliced red radish bulbs provides approximately 20 Calories or less, coming largely from carbohydrates, making radishes, a very filling food.Radishes are suggested as an alternative treatment for a variety of ailments including whooping cough, cancer,coughs, gastric discomfort, etc.More info at Wikipedia.

I have been cooking Chicken dishes for most of my WHB entries.I thought I would cook a simple veg soup dish this time. Then I saw these little beauties just about ready to pluck fresh off of the Earth in my little veggie patch which I had planted about 3 weeks ago!
Kadhi is a nutritious soup made with a simple blend of Chickpea flour and spices. There are Gujarati Kadhis like this one and Punjabi Kadhis which has fried fritters added to make it more substantial.I wanted to keep it light without any fried things.Here it is, a Gujarati Kadhi with red radishes.

Radish Kadhi:


This is a simple Radish Kadhi/soup made of yogurt or Sour cream mixed with some Besan or Chickpea flour,simmered with some spices and cooked radishes of course to add to the delicious sauce.Kadhi can be served some cooked rice or as soup for a light lunch or brunch.

You need:
Veg; you need 10-15 small red radishes,wash,top and tail(you can use chopped radish leaves in the dish too) and slice into halves and cook with just enough water to cover them in the microwave until they are tender.Discard the excess water if more than 1/2 cup left.
Sauce; 3 tbsp Chickpea flour (besan),2 cups Yogurt or fat free sour cream,2 cups of water,1 tsp green chili-ginger paste,(1-2 green chillies and 1/2" fresh ginger) 1/4 tsp turmeric powder(haldi), 1 tsp sugar and salt to taste.
For tempering: 1/2 tbsp butter,1/2 tsp each mustard seeds,cumin seeds,1 red chilli,few Curry leaves(optional) and a pinch of Hing.(asafoetida)

How to make Kadhi:
1. Whisk all the sauce ingredients given above and simmer in a very low heat to prevent the yogurt/sour cream from curdling.You don't want a cottage cheese soup ,do you?:)
2. Keep stirring as it thickens,add cooked Radishes and let it simmer until the flour cooks and the raw smell of the flour disappears.Take it off the heat when done.
3. To temper,heat a pan with 1 tbsp butter or oil,add all the ingredients above.When it starts to splutter,take it off the heat and cool.Add to the soup and mix well.
4. Garnish the soup with cilantro if you like and serve as a soup or with some cooked rice.Enjoy!:)

Note:You can add 1 tsp Cumin pd to the sauce to add to the flavor while it's simmering.You can skip the tempering part,if you just want to have it as a soup,your choice.

My garden patch with fresh radishes!

Radishes are a popular choice for personal cultivation, as they are fairly easy to grow. It is a rapidly-maturing crop, with many varieties able to reach maturity within 30 days.
Radishes grow best in full sun and moist, fertile, acidic to neutral soil. They are in season April, May, June, July, August, September, and part of October. Seeds will germinate if planted at a depth of 1 cm.Summer varieties include "Rainbow Mix", a red, white and purple radish; "Cherry Bell", which is cherry shaped.

Can't wait for May so I can plant some more veggies!:))

30 comments:

Seema Bhat said...

Radish Kadi.. never heard of it Asha. Looks gorgeous and like you I am desperately waiting for the weather to warm up so I can start gardening.

FH said...

Kadhi tastes so good Seema and simple to make it too.Try it.You can add veggies or skip and have the plain Kadhi with rice too:)
It suddenly got very cold here today!!No chance anything will survive at 30F.Hope May comes soon:))

USHA said...

Hi Ashaji,

Radish Kadhi that sounds something new and good for me...
Its nice to see cute little cheey bells over there in the garden.
This weeekend my brother-in-law(India)is coming over here on office trip for 1 week.My sister and Niece (Virginia)are also coming to stay for 2weeks with me....so gonna have great time this weekend...

Happy weekend...

FH said...

Hi Usha,busy weekend for you girl!:))

It's good to hear that you are going to have fun with family.Enjoy and make Kadhi for them!;D

Have fun,enjoy.Hope it doesn't snow where you are!

Richa said...

wow one more kadhi! adding radish is a nice idea, specially looking at it's nutrition content.
Last year I had excellent jalapeno, bell pepper & tomato harvest. Isn't it great making something straight from ur garden!
thanks

FH said...

Richa,absolutely! Those plants become like your children, believe it or not!;D It really hurts when we had to clean up that patch at the end of Summer.I grew Eggplants,peppers,Tomatoes, few Okras but didn't get many okras.
Radish in in Kadhi tasted so good.They were young and fresh.I saw many Kadhis too today in many blogs!Kadhi for K becoming popular!!:))
Have a great weekend Richa.

bee said...

asha, did you plant them from seed?

FH said...

Hi Bee,yes I did sow the seeds about 4 weeks ago,wanted to grow some for Mandira's Green blog but then it got so cold!They started sprouting when the weather got warm.They were so pretty and tender:))
Have a great weekend.See you on Monday.

Chef Jeena said...

Hey Asha , your khadi sounds lovely. I am wouldn't normally buy radish but this recipe makes it sound so nice. It looks tasty too ! :)

FH said...

Hi Jeena, do try ,I am sure you will love it:))
You can skip Radishes and add Spinach too to make it healthier!Thanks.

Coffee said...

What seeds do you sow for radish???!!!!!

The kadhi sound fab!!!!! New to me for sure!!!! And the red little dumplings swimming here and there are a nice variation......

Your...."there are fujrati kadhi's like this and punjabi kadhi ......" are missing the links!!!! :)

Pravs said...

Oh you can make kadhi with raddish ?..hmmm interesting.

Ranjani said...

how do u manage to do 2 blogs & make both of them equally beautiful :)

J said...

Going gujju...:) I do make kadhi-chawal with radish as a salad only. Never cooked them, not sure I'd like that cooked taste. Khandvi was great too esp for a first try! :) Have a good weekend!

FH said...

Hi Coffee,seed packets are from a company called Burpee,most seeds from that are 90% chance of sprouting.These come with a name Red radishes.This is Gujarati Kadhi R, without radishes of course! and Punjabi Kadhi,may be I will post next time,didn't put any link:)

Hi Pravs,adding Radishes to Kadhi was my idea since I got some very tender ones,not a strong smell big white ones:)
I made Kadhi with Aloo and Spinach too,it's Potato post at FH.It was yummy.

FH said...

Hi Ranjani,thank you:))
I had only one blog until this Jan., and then so many events are started by blog friends,I couldn't help but create this Aroma just for entries to their events.How can I not participate in these wonderful events, it also makes me think and cook new dishes and to be creative:)

Hi J! Love to go Gujju and Telugu,love both cuisines:)
Khandvi came out surprisingly good for a first try,tasted yummy too.
Arvind doesn't like cooked white Radishes either,smells bad when cooking,I love it!But these red radishes are very mild,no smell,great for raw salad and easy to cook.It was in good in Kadhi too.Happy Easter:)

Anonymous said...

Hi Asha, I only started cooking with radishes a short while ago with ISG's dal sambhar with radish. What a discovery! All these years I have missed this great little veggie cooked -- and of course since I started cooking them now I have them raw, as well. Your kadhi looks delish! And I am jealous of the garden :) My little radishes in a pot are coming s l o w l y ...

Have a happy weekend with Easter Bunny :)

FH said...

Hi Linda,lot of ppl don't like the smell of cooking Radishes and I don't blame them!;D
I love radishes cooked or raw.These little radishes have lot less odor than the white or Daikons.Tastes great in salad too.Hope you cook more with these,I have radish Gojju which tastes great with rice.
I was planning to plant some this weekend but temp dipped down to 20s!Got to wait until May now!
Have a great weekend and Easter:))

Kribha said...

I'm one of the guys who has never had kadi before. Just last week when I was going through a cook book I read about it. Nice to see the finished product. Your radishes look lovely.I'm a gal who dosen't know even the ABC's of gardening.Thanks for sharing some information on radishes.

FH said...

You are welcome Kribha,glad you could be familiar with these.
Kadhi is easy,nutritious and you can add Spinach too to make it more healthy.Try it once,you will love it, with rice and Pakoras on the side,yum!:)
If you check Potato post at FH,you will find Aloo-Palak Kadhi.
Enjoy Kribha.

Susan from Food Blogga said...

I'm so glad to see radishes featured! I think they are really underappreciated. I just love them though and think your soup looks delicious.

FH said...

Thank you Susan:)

In India ,we routinely cook Radishes in everyday dal and add to make Parathas etc.Here in US,it's mainly used raw in salads.It does have odd smell when you cook, but I love the taste though!

Sig said...

Hi Asha, I've never heard of Radish Kadhi, sounds delicious! I never use radishes in anything other than salads, now here is a recipe to try. Hope you are enjoying your weekend off!

FH said...

Hi Sig, most south Indians say that they haven't heard about Kadhi!I have been making it for long time,I guess I experiment a lot!:)
I make Radish sambhar,it's yummy.Try making this,cooking Radish smells a bit just like Moong dal but tastes great.
I made a good decision not to open the blog roll on weekends,I get to relax and cook and type for my posts.It's all good!:D
I will catch up today with all of you.

Anh said...

Asha, thanks so much for supporting me! You are really sweet. *hug*
Now, your radish kadhi looks gorgeous. I never really know how to use radish except throwing them into salad or use them as garnish. Your soup is a good start for me! Thanks. (Oh, and I saw besan flour their :D)

FH said...

Hi Anh,you are welcome.I enjoyed making this using homegrown Radishes!That's more fun than buying them.Besan makes everything taste great,you will love it I know.Try this,I am sure you will like it:)

Bong Mom said...

You managed anice radish patch Asha..how did they survive the cold ?

FH said...

Hi Sandeepa,I just threw some seeds there.They didn't come up when it got too cold and then the temp went up to 80F.What do you see?!These things ready to be plucked!!:D
Usually, NC is warm in most winters,so you can grow some cold resistant plants:)

Kalyn Denny said...

Very interesting. I'm having so much fun learning about various dishes in Indian cooking, so now I've learned a bit about what Kahdi is. Sounds good, I love the taste of chickpea flour. You're lucky to have radishes. I'm getting quite anxious to plant things myself, although I know it's too early!

FH said...

Hi Kalyn,we routinely cook and use raw Radishes in many dishes in India.It does smell little odd when cooking,but tastes so good!:)
I was about plant some this weekend,then it suddenly got so cold.I will wait until May for Eggplants and Tomatoes.It has to be at least 75F for them grow.Good luck with your's.