Raddish & Beans curry with Capsicum

It seems our winter has come to an end, lasting just for two months. I hope! Until last week everyone in our area were trembling in the single digit temperature - bundled up in jackets, scarves and furry boots. And suddenly since last weekend the weather has become quite warmer in the 50's & 60's with nice pleasant breeze unlike the typical february weather. Feels like Spring is here already! Its been like a roller coaster ride - Way down and Way up, Fast!

Though I'm looking forward to Spring, I do like winter in some aspects -- To me, its a time to catch up on some stuffs that I usually neglect in summer -- my closet cleanup, rearrange my kitchen pantry, watch DVDs, cook my favorite soups etc. I love to sit on my couch and have a cup of hot-chocolate while watching the snowfall through my window. Oh, and then one important thing - Food lasts longer in the refregirator during winter, so I don't have to cook everyday..he.. he... I missed some of these things this winter as I spent quite a bit of winter in India this year. Especially, I miss my soups! I've been planning to make them since last week.. but the warmer days change my mind. I know thats ridiculous, but its hard to convince my mind :) I think I still have time to re-arrange my kitchen pantry. Even though my pantry is the cleanest place in my kitchen, ever since I read this article by Mark Bittman on how to wisely organize your pantry, I've gotten some new ideas in re-arranging my pantry and can't wait to see my pantry with a new look. Its still in my to-do tasks for this winter, and hopefully I'll have time to fix it.

Alright, after a tough debate about my dinner, I settled on making this vegetable dish and drumsticks sambar for dinner yesterday. Sometimes just tasting a dish changes my perception of a vegetable. I'm sure this applies to many of us. Raddish is one vegetable that I often tend to ignore during my grocery shopping, inspite of seeing some fresh white raddishes waiting to be picked-up. The reason for my ignorance is just because I don't know a lot of recipes with raddish. I usually add them in sambar, or sometimes use them for stuffing parathas. And thats about it. But this all changed when I tried a couple of excellent radish dishes in India last month. One was Raddish Chutney, which I will be posting soon and the other was this mild vegetable curry with Raddish. A new recipe that I learnt from my mother-in-law. She told she's been cooking this often after watching the recipe in a tv show. I've never cooked raddish this way and I thought its a nice change from my usual radish sambar. I really liked this recipe because it's easy, it's healthy, and it's simple! The ingredients list may seem to be longer, but they're all fairly common ingredients and get tossed in around the same time.

Ingredients:

• White Raddish (Sliced into semi cirles) & Chopped Green Beans - 1 cup each
• Capsicum - 1
• Onions - 1 medium
• Ginger/Garlic paste - 2 tsp
• Red Chillies - 3 or 4
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Garam masala - 1 tsp
• Peanut powder - 1 tbsp (optional).
• Mustard seeds & Urad dal - 1 tsp each
• Asafoetida - 1 pinch
• Corriander leaves - to garnish.

Procedure:

• Start by chopping the raddish to semi-circled slices. Then chop the beans and capsicum to 1 inch long stripes.
• Dry roast and powder the peanuts. I usually do this in large quantity and store in the fridge.
• Heat oil in a pan, season with mustard seeds and Urad dal, then add the red chillies and asafoetida and fry for a min in medium heat.
• Add onions and fry for a few mins. Now add ginger/garlic paste and fry for a few more mins.
• Add the chopped raddish and fry for 3-5 mins. Then add the capsicum, beans, turmeric & salt and fry for a few mins. Add 2 tbsps of water, cover and cook for 15 mins in low heat.
• Once the vegetables are well cooked, add the garam masala, corriander leaves and peanut powder. Mix well for a min and remove from heat.

Goes well with Rotis and any form of rice.