Collection: What to do with Daikon Radish – From Salads to Curries

Daikon Radish (aka White Radish) is another underused  vegetable. There are two varieties, the Japanese and the Korean White radishes. They vary in size, but the tastes are the same.

Daikon is most popular in Salads where its radish-like heat shines through. I use it a lot in home made juices – just a small chunk so that the heat does not overpower the juice – and it adds a spark to the juice that is not otherwise there.

But when cooked – steamed, simmered, sauteed, baked, roasted, fried – it loses its heat and becomes mild and delicious.

Enjoy our collection of Daikon recipes. You can also browse them all here.

Other Collections include:

• Delicious Recipes with Green Tomatoes
• 40 of our Best Coolers for Summer
• So Many Ways to Love Parsnip

Browse all of our Gratin, or explore our Mid Winter dishes.

Persian Love Tea | Saffron Tea

Years ago, on my first trip to India, I had the most beautiful tea of Saffron and spices. I still make that often, but it is also very nice to pare the tea back and make an infusion with only saffron, or with saffron and rose buds. It is an amazingly relaxing tea which can be consumed hot or chilled.

While this is commonly called a Persian recipe it is also found all through India which is not surprising given the attention to spices in that sub continent. We prefer saffron from Saffron Only – it is excellent quality with long threads. (I love this saffron, and do not receive any remuneration for mentioning them.)

Similar recipes include Saffron Spice Tea, Ginger Cooler, and Mint and Lemon Verbena Tea.

Browse all of our Chai recipes and Herbal Teas. Explore all of our Drinks. Our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials here. Or explore our Early Summer dishes.

A Collection of 30 Soups for Late Autumn | Seasonal Cooking

Sometimes late Autumn can bring sunny days and warm weather still, and secretly we hope for it. But the farmers pray for rain, and most years it comes. Cold weather comes too. We settle in for 4 – 5 months of cold weather before the sunshine emerges again with its warmth and new life.

By now we have stocked up on the lentils and beans for winter. There is citrus fruit and root vegetables. The oven provides warmth in the kitchen. Soups, soups and soups are made – they become a daily ritual.

Similar posts include What to Do with Daikon Radish.

Enjoy our 30 Soup Suggestions for the month that heralds the colder weather to come.

A Collection of 30 Salads for Late Autumn | Seasonal Cooking

By Late Autumn the available fruits and vegetables have changed considerably from our Summer abundant produce. Sweet potatoes and new potatoes are excellent quality. There are a large range of grape varieties available. Citrus has hit the shops, from ruby grapefruits to mandarins. Fresh horseradish is in season. Pumpkins pile up in bins in the green groceries. Okra is more generally available, and radishes are generous and bright red. Fennel bulbs are luscious, and Jicama are coming back into the shops. Pears are juicy, and Apples range from small snack size to large pie size. Surprisingly, small garlic bulbs are around and they are lovely to roast. It is truly exciting to browse the shops and markets at this time of the year.

LATE AUTUMN – Delicious Dishes for Autumn Living | Seasonal Cooking

Enjoy these highlights from our Late Autumn classic recipes.

Celebrating Autumn

You can also browse other Late Autumn recipes:

• Indian Deliciousness for Late Autumn,
• Soup Recipes,
• Goodies, Grains and Lentils,
• Salad and Vegetable Dishes,
• Teas and Sweet Things, and
• Tips and Hints for Cooking in Late Autumn.

If you have difficulty with any links, please let us know. We would love to fix them for you.

Tray Baked Spicy Turmeric Chickpeas | Turmeric Chickpeas Roasted with Spices

Baked chickpeas are a delicious, easy and healthy snack. You can snack on them straight from the pan, or throw them into salads, on top of pasta  or scattered over a thick wintery soup. Eat them sitting in the garden in the sunshine. Take them in your backpack on long walks. Bring them to a picnic. Take a small container to the gym. Bring in your bento box to the office for lunch. Nibble when you have the pre-dinner munchies. Or snack on them late at night while watching TV.

I first baked spicy chickpeas way back in 2008, and they have been a firm favourite in our household. But recently we made a variation of the recipe. Rather than using canned or ordinary cooked chickpeas, we have soaked and cooked the chickpeas in turmeric water. It adds a lovely colour to the chickpeas and a turmeric tang to the flavour. Turmeric chickpeas are all across the internet, and we have done a small experiment with them to test the flavours, visual appeal and health impact. If you are interested, you can read more about the wonders of Turmeric.

The recipe for Spicy Baked Chickpeas is one that works well with the Turmeric Chickpeas.

Similar recipes include Deep Fried Potato and Carrot Strings, Baked Okra in Dukkah, and Paprika Oven Chips.

Browse all of our Snacks and all of our Chickpea recipes. Or explore our Mid Summer dishes.

A Collection of 22 Kitchari Recipes

Kitchari is one of the most well known recipes outside of India amongst people intent on keeping healthy and eating healthily. It is really a simple dish based on rice cooked with lentils, although variations on this theme exist. The simplest is the highly flavoursome Parsi version, and the Bengalis, who adore kitchari, take it to spice heaven by layering different flavours using a dozen or so spices.

Kitchari can be cooked with long grain or short grain rice, resulting in different dishes. Basmati rice is preferred by Ayurveda and other practitioners, due to its digestibility. Long grain rice is also the rice of choice in the North of India. The kitchari is quite loose and open, not unlike a pilaf.

In the South, short and medium grained rices are used for Pongal and other variations on Kitchari. This means that the dish is more porridge-like than pilaf-like.

Kitchari can be made thick or soupy. The ratio of lentils to rice can be adjusted to suit your mood, the season and your health. Also, the lentils can be toasted before cooking to make it warming for the body, good for the Winter months.

All styles are delicious, comforting and very nourishing. It is a dish that you return to again and again when feeling overwrought, tired, anxious or unwell. It lightens the body and lifts the spirits.

Please enjoy these different kitchari dishes. Note that kitchari can be spelled a dozen different ways throughout India, and beyond. There are many English alternate spellings — kitchari, kitchadi, khichdi, kitchari, khichri, khichdee, khichadi, khichuri, khichari, kitcheree, kitchree, khichdi,  and many other variants, and each Indian language has it’s own variation e.g. Hindi खिचड़ी khicṛī, Urdu: کھچڑی‎ khicṛī, Oriya: ଖେଚେଡ଼ି khecheṛi, Bengali: খিচুড়ী khichuṛi, Gujarati: ખીચડી khichḍi. And more….

Chakkotha Salad | Pomelo Salad

Pomelo comes in light yellow flesh, rather like a lemon or grapefruit, and a pink fleshed variety. I was surprised recently that when I peeled a Pomelo, it revealed beautiful salmon pink flesh. Rather gorgeous, like a ruby grapefruit.

This salad has its  genesis in an Indian salad, which, I hear, is traditionally smoked using food-safe charcoal and oil. Use your smoke gun if you have one (I don’t), but it is gorgeous even without that.

Similar recipes include Pomelo and Green Mango Salad, and Pomelo and Avocado Salad.

Browse all of our Pomelo recipes, and all of our Salads. Our Indian recipes are here and our Indian Essentials here. Or browse our Late Spring dishes.

Caldo | A Traditional Soup from Goa

In Goa there are several distinct cuisines – Indian/Hindu, Indian-Portuguese/Christian-Catholic, and Muslim. They differ quite considerably. The cuisine that receives the most prominence in cookbooks and online is the food that derived from the Portuguese Catholic invasion of 1510 and occupation until 1961.

Many of the well known dishes of Goa – Xacuti and Vindaloo for example – derive from this period and originate from Portuguese dishes that, over time, were enhanced with Indian food and taste preferences. Some Indian dishes were integrated into the cuisine, and most likely were influenced with flavours adjusted to the tastes of the Portuguese.

This soup is another example. It is a very simple soup – you can’t imagine how tasty it is from the simple ingredients. It is derived from a Portuguese dish and forms the basis of other Goan soups. Although simple, it is also a festive dish, served at weddings. It is a mild soup, but the cheese and pepper add beautiful flavours. It is common in Goa to use stock cubes to add flavour, but I use some quickly made, home made vegetable stock.

Note that there is a similar soup, Caldo Verde, which includes Goan greens and potatoes. It is different to this recipe.

Similar dishes include South Indian Palak Soup, Minty Cucumber Yoghurt Soup, Goan Vegetable Pulao, Goan Bisibelebath, and Fried Okra, Goan Style.

Browse all of our Indian Soups, and all of our Goan dishes. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Early Summer recipes.

Roasted Okra with Tomato, Lemon and Coriander Seeds

Even Ottolenghi loves okra. His books contain a range of okra recipes, and this one comes from Plenty. It is a classic combination of okra, tomato and lemon, with the Ottolenghi twist of herbs and spices. The use of preserved lemon is genius, and he uses it also in this Salad of Charred Okra and Preserved Lemon.

In this part of the world the quality of the okra is good, whether the okra is small or large. In other parts you might find that small okra pods have a more attractive texture than large ones, which can be a bit gloopy and stringy when cooked. Check your local large okra to see whether it will work in dishes like this. Middle Eastern and Indian groceries often stock frozen okra that are tiny, with a perfect firmness, and they come with an added bonus: the okra are ready-trimmed.

Are you looking for other Okra dishes? Try Sri Lankan Okra Curry, Kerala Okra Curry, and Greek Okra in Tomatoes.

Browse all of our Okra dishes and all of the Ottolenghi dishes we have tried. Or take some time to explore our Mid Winter dishes.