The juicy, earthy, peppery crunch of a radish is blissful when dipped into and eaten with the creamy, buttery, roasted sweetness of dark chocolate sauce. It was with the help of my father, Jeff Bridges and Rapunzel that this unusual pairing found its way onto my plate.
My father’s love of food is, and has always been, mouthwateringly contagious. This is a man who can make a devout Hindu blasphemously crave beef just by the way he slowly and meticulously cuts and savors each bite of his sirloin steak. And, as far back as I can remember, anything he ate, I wanted.
When we moved to the Middle East, he easily enlisted me as his “assistant gardener” to grow radishes in a small patch of sand in the middle of our concrete backyard. I was 7 and eager.
I loved tending to them; loved peeking under the mud to catch a glimpse of their bright color; loved the rawness they embodied in their taste and in the act of having to pull them up from the earth; loved the loud crunch I made when I bit into one; and most of all, I loved the image sketched in my mind of a father and daughter making a tiny part of a desert bloom with ruby colored radishes.
A few years later, Shelley Duvall, the actress from The Shining, entered my life with her Fairie Tale Theater – a TV series of fairy tales starring some of the most popular actors of the time like Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, and Carrie Fisher. Along with this entered the most decadent radish recipe with an episode of Rapunzel.
As the story goes, a candlestick maker and his pregnant wife, played by Jeff Bridges (yes, “The Dude”) and Shelley Duvall, find themselves living next door to a witch with a luscious garden of rapuns – also known as radishes. The witch casts a spell on the wife, who finds herself insatiably craving these crimson veggies. The wife in turn convinces her loving husband to reluctantly sneak into the forbidden garden to steal a bagful of radishes night after night.
About 10 minutes into the episode, you see the wife eating these radishes in all sorts of recipes. “Some raw, some roasted, some in salads, some in pies… even a few in a chocolate fondue”.
Chocolate fondue? Um, wait, what? I was bewitched!
The episode hadn’t ended and I was begging my mum to teach me how to cook chocolate sauce. I needed to know exactly why this veggie, which I normally ate in salads, was being paired with another favorite of mine. I too wanted my eyes to roll back into my head like Shelley Duvall as she bit into one (see clip below). This is the deliciously simple recipe she taught me and… I ate happily ever after.
~The End~
Radishes & Chocolate
Ingredients
- A bunch of radishes (10 or so)
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process cocoa
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup of whole milk (or half & half for more decadence)
Directions
- Trim the radishes by cutting off their leafy stalks and ends. Wash and set aside.
- Sift the cocoa powder and sugar in a bowl to ensure a sauce with no lumps.
- Gently whisk in the milk until smooth and creamy.
- Melt the butter in a butter warmer or a similar small pan over a low flame.
- Once the butter melts, slowly add the chocolate mixture to the pan and stir until the chocolate sauce turns a darker color. About 5 minutes. Turn the flame off and set aside to cool.
- Place radishes in small individual bowls and cover with chocolate sauce. Or, simply serve a plate of radishes alongside a bowl of the chocolate sauce and dip away. Double-dipping allowed!
- PS: The chocolate sauce tastes great on vanilla ice-cream or strawberries or both.
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes
Number of servings (yield): 5
Andra.V says
I love the pics, the idea and the story!! Will print and try this recipe, thank you!
Anjali says
So glad you enjoyed this, Andra! Thank you for writing. Hope they’re as magical for you as they are for me.
Hannah N. says
Sounds delicious! I love the story about you and your pop, especially the image it conjurs up. Can’t wait to try this and to see what you write about next!
p.s. awesome photos! 😉
Anjali says
Thanks, Hannah! Can’t wait to eat together. And, thank you for all your advice on cameras & photography.
Hannah N. says
Any time dahling!
Fiona Martis says
Anj! How wonderful!!! I love the way you’ve written this….also brought back some long forgotten memories of Fairie Tale Theater for this fellow Dubai child …I loved that show. Thanks for a fab blast from the past….and yes, for the first time in my life, I am now tempted to try out radishes!
Well done!
Anjali says
Thanks, Fiona! So great to hear that it brought back good memories. Yes, definitely try radishes and lemme know what you think. 😉
Radhika says
This looks so delicious! The pictures are amazing, look forward to seeing more entries!
Anjali says
Thanks for the nice words and for reading, Radhika!
Rachel says
When I was a child, I watched this fairy tale all the time. I had it recorded on a VHS tape. For years, YEARS, ever since I used to watch that old tape, I have wanted to try chocolate covered radishes. Whenever I told anybody about the old Rapunzel story with the chocolate covered radishes, they would look at me like I was crazy. I randomly decided to Google it, and I came across this posting. You don’t know how happy it made me to not only find the recipe, but the clip of the very movie!
Anjali says
Hi Rachel, your comment made me very happy! It’s so good to know that there’s someone else out there that appreciates the recipe and remembers the fairy tale like I do. I stumbled across the video while researching it myself and I just had to post. It put a grin on my face.
melody says
i posted on my page tonight that my growing baby was sending me into a frenzy over a craving for radishes. My brother, remembering vividly from ther millions of times i made him watch this very movie, quoted it with a cllip from the scene. Upon googling chocolate covered radishes i came upon this entry! ill accept it as a sign and make a trip to the
grocery store tomorrow to satisfy my urge.
Anjali says
Hi Melody, I love your comment! I’m thrilled to hear that you and your brother remember this clip and that you’re going to eat chocolate covered radishes while pregnant. So cute! Congratulations on the little one and keep me posted on how the recipe turns out.