WHAT A FEAST OF RADISH IN THE WET MARKET OF PANJIM CURRENTLY!

Buy “mulo”and its greens daily…

MY GOODNESS, I can’t take my eyes of this bumper harvest of radish in the Goan wet market these days in Panjim. This is the season I know and see these washed white radish (the daikon Jap styled radish) with greens attached. Rs50 a bunch of sizeable radish and I’m wondering what to do with them for radishes have an utterly nutrillicious brief, like they’re a liver-tox veggie but more about this later.
Most Goan homes and eateries in their thali veg meal deals feature “mulochye bhaji.” Usually radish and greens chopped and cooked just so preferably in terracotta pot in its own juices, grated ginger, a couple of slit green chilies, spot of turmeric, sea salt…and a final tossing in freshly grated coconut. Yummilicious, wrap around a chappati or jowari chappati and enjoy till the cows come home, or something like that.
Or do radish coleslaw, grate fine, squeeze out juice, add black salt, chaat masala, lemon juice, eat: or do a combo of cucumber, carrot and radish coleslaw…of course, a hot Indian favorite is “mooli ke parathe” up north India – each paratha stuffed with a dry flavorful mix of fine white julienned radish (never forget to add a smattering of ajwain or thymol seeds in your fillings whatever they be, combine with potato if you wish).
Radish brief: low-calorie, almost all packed with water and therefore very hydrating, vitamin C rich. Radish is one of our root veggies regardless of color, shape or sharp flavor reminiscent of mustard greens somewhat, sometimes wee bit sweetish too depending on the radish variety.
Honey, radish variety is wide from the little round or oval red ones sometimes called “cherry balls” or “scarlet glories” and on to the slender long ivory white ones (all earth washed off) to the stouter shapes which may be sweet and peppery and earthy in taste (like turnips-“shalgam”). Oh yes, radishes come in ivory white, red, black, yellow, purple and green – and so rich with live enzymes, that is why you want to eat them fresh in salads like coleslaw or just water pickles maybe…
Radishes are native to south-east Asia (the oriental countries and surprisingly Central Mexico), the ancient Romans and Greeks treated radishes as medicine. For what? Now we know veggies and some veggies more so than others are anti-diabetic, anti-heart disease, anti-constipation and all good things anti-this and that. One reads repeatedly that radishes are liver and kidney de-tox veggies…if you suffer from a fatty liver (largely due to liquor consumption but also due to excessive refined carbs like chemical white sugar in everything including industrial junk food), eat more radish! Mind you, not more than a cup full daily, some folk complain of gas after eating radish this or that. Must be judicious instead of radical when it comes to what you put in your mouth! Too much of a good thing is always contraindicated while a little goes a long way, remember that.
WHAT else? Oh yes, radish is an Asian staple and the Japanese and Chinese love radish…in Japan you may find radish with green flesh and also jet black big balls of radish with pristine white flesh within! Radishes come with tantalizing names translating to “pink lady slipper” and what not. I was reading up that the “Sakurajiwa daikon” is the largest radish in the world and draws its extra special properties courtesy the volcanic ash rich soil near Sakurojiwa volcano in Japan.
Beets and radishes are root veggies but beets (as in beetroot) are related to the amaranth family, while radishes are related to cabbage family. I’m still smoking on this bit of info. Finally, radishes have coenzyme Q10 which is a very powerful antioxidant. You must know we need to eat more antioxidant food like greens and fruit rich in vitamin C, folate, the B vitamins, the rest of it… but warning: Radishes also come with “raffinos” which is a complex sugar which ferments in the guts, so you feel gaseous.
Just learn how to eat your radish rightfully – no, no at night time, okay. And this bit: A 2008 study on rats fed on fresh radish juice yielded evidence of healing stomach ulcers (if it’s true for rats it must be true for human stomachs too)…so again, eat radish for anti-Alzheimer’s, anti-fungal (courtesy an “anti-fungal protein RsAFP2”)…also anti-cancer reasons.
As in other veggies too the antioxidants are glucosinolates which do good things for body beautiful. So now is the season so eat a radish a day my dears in sandwiches, soups, tucked in roti, whatever way you like it. And now, okay, no more radish excitable talk, ta ta! Did you know that “ta ta” is just a dimunitive way of saying thank-you?

IS GOAN FOOD IS HEALTHY!

LATELY, more often, I’ve been thinking Goan food is really unhealthy! Now, don’t jump down my throat. I do not think much of Goan food is healthy food to eat day in and day out…and this is reflected in the health status of Goans!
Sorry, I’ve lived in Goa for almost 25 years now and come to the conclusion that Goan food, both that of Hindu Goa and more so of Catholic Goa, is not particularly healthy to eat morning, noon and night. Of course, comparisons are odious and one person’s meat is another man’s poison or something like that…
At the just over Goa Grameen Food festival in Panjim, and especially in the night there was such a crush of people rushing about to eat their hearts out at the various stalls…and suddenly, I thought I was pushing my way through a whole lot of well-stacked folk!
My God, Goans are so well-stacked and well-rolled, seeing how much oily, refined, enriched with this and that garam masala food they eat. Everybody gorges on an array of fish fries, rava fish fries of mackerel and sardines and kingfish and the smaller range of fish where the bones are soft enough to crunch through…then the piles of sweet foods. Mama mia, what a roll call of sweets Goa has at the Goa Grameen food mela or festival (with the aim of giving women opportunities to be good businesswomen in foodie matters), I saw how the various curries were spiced up with various masala – garam, godi, cafreal, reachedao, ambotik, giri miri and more.
A question: Is Goan food becoming more and more spicy so that one may eat less and pay more? Hey, many of my Goan friends suffer from acidity, acid reflux, constipation, diabetes, heart disease, cancer — post-50’s most Goans are a sickly lot if I may say so, even younger Goans! Think about all this and don’t just think. Goan eating habits are in need of a serious overhaul. How a people eat is how a people are resilient, strong and eternally cheerful with positive vibes! Who said that? I just did!