Thursday, January 17, 2008

Vibha Aunty's Mooli Saag Salad

You may hate mooli saag, but you are likely to love this salad. I know I do!

I don't know if it's a traditional Maharashtrian treatment (Vibha Aunty is from Maharashtra) or if it's the sheer genius of Aunty's culinary skills. Recreated in our household by my father-in-law, who's a wonderful cook!

We need:
Fresh Mooli Saag
Ginger
Lime
Green Chillies
Salt

Procedure:

1. Wash and chop the mooli saag into 1/2 cm strips. Bits of mooli tops are welcome.

2. Grate the ginger, chop the chillies and squeeze the lime to make the dressing. Add salt as per taste. The proportion of ginger, chillies and lime is up to your taste sensibilities.

3. Add dressing to chopped saag minutes before serving. The saag should remain crunchy and should not be allowed to stand in the dressing before being served. Once on the table, it gets polished off before you know it!!!



Raphanus sativus longipinnatus:
That's the scientific name of mooli!!! It's originally from Japan, it seems, and is part of the radish (Raphanus sativus) family. In Japanese, it's called Daikon (literally meaning long root). It's used in China, Thailand, Vietnam and other south-east Asian countries. Oh, and it's called moo in Korea. Thought that was kinda cute.

No comments: