Mooli and hot Okra
You'll need two saucepans for this recipe.
I mooli
6/8 largeish mushrooms (washed)
5/8 chillies depending on taste
1 lemongrass
Okra (500/ 600 grams)
4 small potatoes (300 grams) sliced.
one small onion.
Ground turmeric
Ground ginger
5 cloves of garlic
Put 1.5 litres of water into a saucepan and heat.
Grate the mooli. The mooli is a bit tough to grate but it eventually does.The skin is a bit tough and what to do with the green stalk is another thing entirely.
Put it all into the pot. Slice longways and mash a bit and add the lemongrass too.
Add one pressed and chopped garlic clove
Chop and add the mushrooms too, bring to boil and simmer on a hight heat (maybe electric mark 2 to 3/ gas mark 2.
For the okra, wash each one under a cold water tap.
Any which/ where the slime does not wash off and where they are too soft discard those. It happens when they have burst or have become perforated and is where the seeds are leaking. Sometimes they are damaged in transportation too.
Cut the ends from the okra after washing and add to the pot but chop some maybe half or two thirds into 1cm peices (photo 1) and add the others whole but still with the ends removed. Add sufficient water up to 1.5litres to adequately cover and bring to the boil. Add the chopped garlic too.
It is easy when cooking to think oh shall i add a chilli, but when cooking a vegetable you have never known or seen before (mooli), best to adopt the philosophy that you can always add a chilli or two later but you can't exactly remove them from the pot. Chop the chillies (photo 1) and add to the okra pot.
Chop the onion and add half to the mooli and half to the okra.
Slice the small potatoes to maybe 7mm and add to the okra with the heap teaspoonful of ground turmeric.
Allow the mooli water to almost completely evaporate on a low simmer. Once okra has boiled simmer on electric mark 1/ gas mark 1 or 2.
Add lid to okra saucepan to soften the potatoes and add the large level teaspoonful of ground ginger. Stir both pots with a clean wooden spoon. Or a metal utensil or a plastic one. Do not leave wooden spoons in cooking saucepans.
