Radish Salad

Because I am never satisfied with simplicity I had to add a fourth dish to our Indian vegetarian "feast" a couple of nights ago. To be fair I was barely counting the snake gourd as a dish because I had no idea how it would be accepted and if it was nasty then there would only be spinach kofta and potatoes (and chapatis) to eat - totally unacceptable. So there I was, flipping through my cookbook when radish salad jumped out at me. I had glanced over it before but never gave it much thought other than, "Hey, I should try that sometime." With few ingredients and five minutes preparation, it was just what I needed to round off dinner. Oh, and it's really good, too.

Radishes and peanuts? They so work together: the bite of the radishes is tempered by the nutty, well, nuts, and you will wonder why the other ingredients are even in there. I hardly noticed them.

Radish Salad
The Food of India

7oz (200grams) small radishes, quartered
1tbsp oil
1/4tsp cumin seeds
1/4tsp black mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida
1/4tsp ground turmeric
1/4tsp salt
1tbsp lemon juice
2/3cup (100grams) roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

1. Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat, add cumin and mustard seeds, then cover and sjake until seeds start to pop.

2. Add the asafoetida, tumeric and salt to the pan, then remove from the heat, add the lemon juice and leave to cool. Just before serving, arrange the radishes and peanuts in a bowl, pour the dressing over the top and mix thoroughly.