Vegan Radish Mustard Stir Fry

Whole Food Plant Based Radish Mustard Stir Fry with the Goodness of Cruciferous Vegetables

Whole Food Plant Based Radish Mustard Stir Fry Recipe

Course: Course 2 (Vegetable Dish) at Lunch & Dinner Meals
Cuisine: Indian Recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 2 people

INGREDIENTS

2 Radishes
1 Tomato
1 Onion
1 cm piece Ginger
1/2 tsp Jeera Powder / Cumin Powder
½ tsp Black Pepper Powder
2 tbsp Coriander Leaves
6 Almonds
2 tsp Miso Paste (Healthy Salt Alternative. See Nutrition Science Highlights below)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Grate radish. Peel onions. Chop onion and tomato into long, bite-sized pieces. Peel and grate ginger.
2. Cook together with a few splashes of water now and then if required. Don't let it burn.
3. Once radish is cooked just right, remove from stove and mix in miso paste and almonds. Dry roast mustard seeds. As soon as they start sputtering, mix into radish mustard stir fry. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and stems. Serve fresh!

Plant Based Chef Pro Tips for Best Radish Mustard Stir Fry Recipe

1. Keep stirring every few minutes to ensure that it does not burn. Add splashes of water when it starts looking dry. You can also use vinegar for a tangy taste!

Nutrition Science Highlights for WFPB Radish Mustard Stir Fry Recipe

1. Why Miso Paste? Miso paste is fermented & salted soya bean paste. American Heart Association Maximum recommended maximum daily salt intake of 3.75 grams per person to minimise risk of high blood pressure, stomach cancer and chronic kidney disease. In addition to helping us restrict salt intake, replacing salt with miso paste also helps by neutralising the negative effects of salt by soya phytonutrients. You can easily make fresh miso paste at home by mixing 100 grams of cooked soya paste with 10 grams of salt, or 10 tablespoons of cooked soya paste with 1 tablespoon of salt. If making at home, ensure to use immediately, or freeze in batches to use later. Or, simply use 3.75 grams of salt or less per day per person and add 18 to 20 grams (dry weight) of soya beans in any dishes, spread through the day!
2. Why crush garlic and wait? When garlic is chopped, crushed, ground or bitten into, two chemicals stored in different parts of garlic's cells combine in a chemical reaction to form allicin. This is a slightly bitter compound that deters insects, but happens to be very beneficial to our health. Allicin helps reduce blood pressure and protect the heart and other organs, fight off lung infections, and reduce inflammation. Unfortunately, cooking destroys one of the enzymes required to form allicin. This can be overcome by crushing garlic and keeping it aside for ten minutes while the chemical reaction takes place. Once allicin is formed, it is heat stable and can be safely cooked. Alternatively, some raw garlic can be added after cooking, to a dish that has cooked garlic in it.
3. Why nuts instead of oil? Whole foods are healthier than processed foods. When nuts are pressed and oil is extracted, fiber and phytonutrients are lost, along with many other nutrients. Therefore, whole nuts are much healthier than oils, whether cold-pressed or refined. In addition, they provide the oil content we need to absorb fat-soluble phytonutrients from other whole plant foods! This may be why nuts are used to garnish nearly every traditional Indian dish!
4. Why mustard seeds? Myrosinase, an important enzyme in cruciferous vegetables such as knol kohl, cauliflower, cabbage, radish, and broccoli, is essential to form sulforaphane, a powerful anti-cancer compound in the body when we consume these vegetables. However, when they are cooked, myrosinase gets deactivated and sulforaphane does not get synthesised. By adding raw or slightly roasted mustard seeds, or a little of any raw cruciferous vegetable to the dish after cooking, we can add myrosinase back into the dish and protect the powerful anti-cancer functions of cruciferous vegetables.