a healthy side dish using radish leaves (mula saga), radish and potato from Odia cuisine
Radish and its leaves :
Radish (mooli / mula) may not be a favorite vegetable to everybody, but it is one of the healthiest. And winter is the season of this vegetable. These undervalued root vegetables are packed with nutrients. And yes, don't throw out the leaves of this vegetable after taking radish to make any dish. Believe it or not, it is actually the leaves that contain more nutrients than the radish itself. The green leaves of this root vegetables are loaded with many health benefits like
- High In Dietary Fibers
- Increases Immunity And Reduces Fatigue
- Anti-scorbutic properties
- Helps to treat Piles
- Helps Prevent Diabetes
- Detoxifying Agent etc.
What can be prepared using these leaves ?
One can use this radish leaves in muthia (a gujurati snacks), paratha, simple stir fry, chilla etc. Today I have come up with a dish using these greens as Mula Saga Aloo Bhaja / Radish leaves fry with potatoes. This is basically an odia dish. The process is quite simple and easy to make too. Completely Vegan and gluten free dish it is too.
Ingredients in details of this dish :
The leaves of the radish is the main ingredient here. Few potato small cubes are also added along with few radish cubes. I always like the skins of the potatoes here, but that is optional. One can peel those. Mustard oil is a must here. It adds a lovely aroma to the dish overall. Pancha phutana / panch phoron which is a mixture of cumin, mustard, fenugreek, nigella & fennel seeds is used for the tempering part along with dry whole red chili. Few finely chopped onion and freshly crushed garlic are also added. The leaves of radish taste slight bitter (not much like bitter gourd), so one can add few green chilies also along with red chili to balance that bitter in terms of spicy.
How to make this saga bhaja ?
Serving suggestion :
This is a lovely aromatic side dish. It goes very well with simple steamed rice-dal combination. As an Odia, I love to have this with pakhala (rice water). The dish is super simple one and no masala is used here. So do try in this winter !
Recipe Card for 'Mula Saga Aloo Bhaja' :

Mula Saga Aloo Bhaja / Radish leaves fry with potatoes
a healthy side dish using radish leaves (mula saga), radish and potato from Odia cuisine
prep time: 10 Mcook time: 10 Mtotal time: 20 M
ingredients:
- Radish leaves (mula saga) 2 bunch
- Potato (small cubes) 1/2 cup
- Radish (small cubes) 1/2 cup
- Garlic (peel and crushed) 1 tbsp
- Onion (finely chopped) 1 tbsp
- Dry red chili 1 no.
- Pancha phutan 1 tbsp
- Mustard oil 2 tbsp
- Salt as needed
instructions:
How to cook Mula Saga Aloo Bhaja
- Wash and clean all the mula saga or radish leaves.
- The middle hard part of the leaves one can discard or use for the dish. I have used that part here.
- Then finely chopped the leaves and keep aside.
- Heat mustard oil in a kadhai.
- Add pancha phutana (mixture of cumin, mustard, fenugreek, nigella & fennel seeds) and whole red chili.
- When these start spluttering add chopped onion and crushed garlic.
- Saute for 1 minute.
- Then add potato and radish cubes along with salt.
- Saute for 3-4 minutes or till the potatoes and radish cooked a bit.
- Next add chopped radish leaves and mix well.
- Cover with a lid till everything is well cooked.
- Serve hot as a side dish with rice-dal combo !
NOTES:
Don't skip the use of mustard oil in this dish. It gives a lovely aroma to the mula saga bhaja.
The amount of garlic one can add more or less as per choice.
Few green chilies can be added here to get a bit spiciness in the bhaja as the radish leaves taste slight bitter.
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