Green Mooli & Hummus

"Green mooli and hummus??!!  Really??!!" 

That's the reaction I've had from everyone I've mentioned it to, but my response is that you have to try it!  Via sheer experimentation is how I came about this concoction and I have to say it has become a new favourite snack of mine.  Here's how it happened.....

I was shopping at my local Morrisons store where they have a small 'exotic' section selling Asian/Caribbean vegetables.  (PS: Here's the link to a post I wrote about eddoe from said section). 

Green Moolis

Always naturally drawn to this area, I have tried a few things from there already including the long white mooli, but I hadn't tried green mooli which in appearance is fatter, more tubular and of course, green. 

Normally sold singly, I saw a bag of green mooli that been bagged up and labelled for an extremely low price as they were nearing their sell-by date and for this bargain price, I thought it worth trying - nothing ventured, nothing gained.

A Single Green Mooli

So, a bit stumped as to what I could do with my green moolis, I embarked on a little research.  Green Mooli, also known as 'Korean Radish' (with its white counterparts often labelled as Japanese radish, daikon or chai tow), and with its lineage to the radish and turnip families, it bears the same kind of bitterness associated with those vegetables.  In addition, and on a positive note however, it’s very low in calories and has high vitamin C content.

There are quite a few recipes online for green mooli, mainly bearing Asian/Oriental influence.  But I thought about how I could do something a little more Western with it for a change.

I decided to flavour them, roast them and let fate (and my oven) decide how they'd turn out!  I used a little honey to balance out the radishy-bitterness that moolis tend to possess and my recipe was as follows:

Green Mooli Cut Vertically



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Roasted Green Mooli

4 Green Moolis

Vegetable Oil

1 tsp Paprika (more if preferred)

Drizzle of Honey

Salt & Pepper

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• Wash/scrub each mooli thoroughly.
• Trim the ends off each one.
• If the skin seems tough, peel it slightly, but not down to the paler flesh.
• Slice vertically in half, then cut into long wedges.
• Coat in vegetable oil and place on a baking tray.
• Scatter the paprika over all the wedges (add more if you like).
• Drizzle the honey over the wedges.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Roast for 40 - 60 minutes (dependent on how soft you want them) on gas mark 5. 
• Turn during the roasting process.

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Taking them out of the oven they looked like green potato wedges and you could see that they had shrivelled slightly. 

Roasted Green Mooli Wedges

Letting them cool a little, I then tentatively tasted one.  It was a bit hard yet at the same time a bit chewy with a roasted flavour coming through with a little hint of a bitter after-taste but yet very tasty.  In fact, they tasted even better when left to cool for a couple of hours.

Ready for a snack much later on, I thought I’d munch on a few more of the green mooli wedges I’d created and I wondered how I could pair them up with something.  Looking in my fridge for inspiration, I saw a pot of plain hummus kicking its heels on the top shelf and using the logic of raw chopped vegetables and how well they work with hummus, I thought I’d adopt the same approach with the wedges.

Roasted Green Mooli Wedges Dipped in Hummus!

To my surprise, it was absolutely lovely!  The juices from the wedges seeped into the hummus as well, which added to it and it was a perfect union!

Green mooli will definitely appear on my shopping list again and has become my new favourite snack!

Whilst I appreciate that it may be an acquired taste, I urge you all to give it a try.  What do you have to lose?  If your local Morrisons store doesn’t sell it, it can be found in most Oriental/Asian supermarkets. 

So if someone says to you - "Green mooli and hummus??!!  Really??!!", say “Yes, really!” and give them my recipe!