Sasmita
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 ?
First both radish and potato are washed well and chopped into small cubes. Then in a kadhai / pan mustard oil heated. pancha phutana along with red chili are put to crackle. Next chopped onion along with crushed garlic are added. After frying for 1 minute the potato and radish cubes are added with salt. These are saute well till cooked a little. Meanwhile the leaves are washed well, drained and finely chopped. Those are then added to the pan and everything is well mixed. The pan is covered with a lid till everything is cooked.
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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Perfect winter recipe, I love this subzi and make it without onion and garlic..shall try your version next whenever I get fresh mooli with leaves.
Wow, what a healthy and delicious dish this is. Never used radish leaves in a stir fry like this. Adding potatoes sounds great.
These are winter delicacies… In Bengal we took cook radish leaves stir fry with dry red chilli, mustard seeds and little sugar…
My favourite ever vegetable in winters which is so healthy and Nutritious as well. Best part is the leaves taste amazing with radish when used in making sabzi.
Loved your version of mooli sabzi it looks amazing.
This healthy radish leaves stir fry is a good versatile option for rice or roti. Loved the use of mustard oil for this recipe. Bookmarking this recipe to try next time.
An interesting sabji Sasmita, using radish leaves. I make it usually with radish leaves, radish and a bit of besan. Your recipe looks delicious and would love to try it when I get radish leaves in Bangalore. Unfortunately, the vegetable vendors tend to sell the radish without the leaves.
This is a nice combination of radish leaves, potato and the radish together. It looks flavoursome, I shall make it sometime.
It's a most loved side dish at home. Though we make it little different way . Winter season is the most loved season because of such yummy veggies. Love it with Bajra Roti..Looks so mouth watering.. yummm
This is a delicate earthy recipe. I love radish leaves and the vegetable seller believes I have a rabbits at home each time he sees me buying them and insisting in not removing the leaves. I love to add this to try next time I have radishes.