Mooli Mattar Mücver

10 February 2023

This time round on KCC we’re taking a look at mooli, or daikon as some of you might know it. This large, white member of the radish family is common in Japanese, Korean and Chinese cuisine and is also widely used in the Indian sub-continent. It’s a versatile, vitamin-packed vegetable that can be eaten raw or cooked in a variety of dishes. It has a milder flavour than its smaller red cousins but adds an interesting, mildly spicy crunch to salads and stir fries.

Mooli mattar mücver served in a bap with salad

Mücver fritters are a perennial KCC favourite so we decided to make some with grated mooli, mattar (green peas), celery and some chickpea flour to glue it all together for our latest mücver variation. This version is great served in a burger bun or baguette with some fresh coleslaw, shredded salad greens and a dash of soy sauce.

Meet the mooli aka daikon or winter radish

The mooli can be quite wet when grated so give it a good squeeze to remove the excess liquid. The chickpea flour will help bind the fritters together and soak up any remaining moisture so that they hold their shape better when frying.

Ingredients (makes four 125 g fritters)

200 g grated mooli
200 g green peas (fresh, tinned or frozen)
1 celery stick
50 g chickpea or pea flour
One teaspoon cumin seeds
One teaspoon turmeric
Two teaspoons paprika
Oil for frying

Method

Peel and grate the mooli into thin strips. Squeeze the moisture from the grated mooli. Chop the celery stalk and leaves finely and put into a bowl with the grated mooli. Add the peas and the spices and mix well. Now add the chickpea flour and blend everything together. The mix should be sticky but not wet – if it’s too moist, then add a bit more flour until you get a sticky consistency.
Heat the oil in a frying pan. Form the mix into four golf ball-sized pieces. Place in the pan and flatten with a fish slice. Turn the fritters over after frying for two to three minutes. Cook for another two to three minutes until both sides are a golden brown colour. Serve in a burger bun or in a baguette. Top with grated carrot and red cabbage and shredded lettuce or rocket, add a splash of soy sauce and enjoy!

It’s an apple! It’s a pear! It’s superquince!

30 November 2022

Looking like something between an apple and a pear, the quince comes across as an exotic addition to the fruit basket. However, this hard, astringent fruit, that needs to be cooked before eating, has a long history in Europe. It was already well-known in Ancient Rome having arrived from its home in Central Asia.

When cooked, quince turns from a yellow hue to a deep amber colour. In Spain, quince is the base for ‘Membrillo‘, a sweet jelly that is served with Manchego cheese. In Turkey, which accounts for more than a quarter of the world’s quince crop, it can often be found stewed in syrup as part of a classic Turkish breakfast spread alongside cheese and olives or baked in the oven and served with clotted cream. It’s also popular in Uzbekistan – we once had a plov garnshed with quince slices and cashews.

Quince has quite a short season, so we decided to turn our haul into a spicy, amber-coloured chutney to prolong its shelf life. Chutney is a lot more forgiving to prepare than jam – and this one is perfect be served with crackers spread with hummus or with a selection of robust cheeses.

It’s an apple. It’s a pear. It’s superquince!
Chopped up and added to the pot
Starting to pink up
KCC’s Quintessentially Quince Chutney

Ingredients (makes around 500 g of chutney)

500 g quince (peeled, cored and cut into 1 cm cubes)
125 g red onion (roughly chopped)
100 g brown sugar
50 g sultanas
10 g fresh ginger (grated)
One teaspoon paprika
One cinnamon stick
250 ml apple (cider) vinegar

Method

Put all the ingredients in a heavy-based pan. Bring to Bring to the boil and then simmer over a low heat, stirring regularly, for at least one and a half hours – it should thicken up into an amber-coloured mass.
Allow the chutney to cool and then put into sterilised glass jars (leave the jars in an oven heated to 50 c for 30 minutes prior to filling). Leave in a dark, cool, dry place for at least four weeks. Should keep for up to a year in the cupboard.

KCC’s Courgette, Coconut and Mung Bean Mash Up

10 November 2022

As the first snow falls here in Almaty, it’s time for some heartier fare. This recipe started out life as courgette soup, but the sudden drop in temperature called for something with a bit more oomph so we added some mung beans and dried coconut to give it a more stew-like consistency. To add a bit of colour, we sprinkled some pomegranate seeds on top and gave it a drizzle of pomegranate sauce before serving.

KCC’s Courgette, Coconut and Mung Bean Mash Up

The delicate, thin courgettes of the summer are giving way to the robust, denser marrows of autumn – perfect for making into a soup. Mung beans are a versatile store cupboard basic – they can be added to stews or grown into bean sprouts for stir fries and salads – check o ut more recipe ideas here. They’re a staple in home-cooked meals in Uzbekistan, where they’re known as mash, hence the “mash up” in the name of this dish.

Ingredients (makes four servings)

1 kilo courgette
One celery stick
One medium onion
Bunch of radish leaves
200 g dried mung beans (soaked overnight)
50 g desiccated coconut
50 ml olive oil
Two teaspoons dried thyme
Two teaspoons cumin seeds
1.5 litres vegetable stock
Pomegranate seeds and Pomegranate sauce to garnish

Method

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based pan and fry the cumin seeds until starting to crackle and then add the diced onion and cook for five minutes over a medium heat. Next add the diced celery, lower the heat and and cook for another five minutes, stirring occasionally. Cut the courgette into four pieces lengthwise and then slice into 1 cm thick chunks. Add to the pan along with the thyme and stir fry for ten minutes. Add one litre of vegetable stock and the chopped radish leaves and simmer over a low heat for twenty minutes.
While the soup is simmering, cook the mung beans in a separate pan with 500 ml vegetable stock and the coconut. Cook for twenty – thirty minutes or so until the beans are softening or until all the liquid is absorbed.
Remove around 25% of the courgette mix and blend the rest to a smooth consistency with a stick blender. Add these blended courgettes to the cooked mung beans and stir well. Bring to a boil and then add the reserved courgette mix. Pour into soup bowls, garnish with a few pomegranate seeds and a drizzle of pomegranate sauce and serve immediately.