MORINGA LEAVES AND POTATO STIR FRY

 MORINGA LEAVES AND POTATO STIR FRY 

Years ago, many houses in India had Moringa/Drumstick trees in their garden and fresh moringa leaves were easily available. These days most houses don't have their own drumsticks trees but their leaves fortunately are available on line through Amazon etc ! 

You may be aware that Moringa Leaves are considered to be super healthy. Their health benefits are detailed in this article from PharmEasy. "Moringa Leaves- 16 Health Benefits You Should Know". They can boost immunity, control blood sugar levels, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, strengthen bone density and improve digestion. 

Moringa/Drumsticks Leaves, prized for their medicinal properties are called, "Murungai Keerai" in Tamil,  "Nugge Soppu" in Kannada and "Mashinga Palle" in my mother tongue, Konkani.

Elsewhere in this blog, you will find  recipes for dishes made with moringa leaves, such as:

• Mashinga Palle Sanna Polo 
• Nugge Soppina Rotti.
• Drumsticks Leaves Curry 
• Drumsticks Leaves Kuzhambu

Today's dish is an easy to make stir fry in which we use drumstick leaves and potatoes. I have adapted  this from Drumstick Leaves Recipe by Swasthi in Indian Healthy Recipes.

I tried this out recently. It tasted great- served as a side dish with hot steamed rice and sambar. 

Ingredients:-

• Moringa Leaves, 100 gms  approx 2 cups
• Potatoes, 3 
• Turmeric Powder, 1/4 tsp
• Mustard Seeds, 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds, 1/2 to 3/4 tsp
• Garlic Cloves, 3
• Split Bengal Gram ( Channa Dal), 1 tsp, 
• Asafoetida, (Hing) 1/8 tsp
• Green Chillies, 3
• Curry Leaves, 6-8 
• Salt, to taste
• Cooking Oil,  1 and 1/2 tbsp ( I used Coconut Oil) 

Method:-

Remove the moringa leaves from the stalks. Wash them in several changes of water. Drain them through a colander to remove all the water. Keep aside

Chop the garlic cloves, slit the green chillies

Wash and boil the potatoes, when they are cool enough to handle peel and cube them

Heat oil in a thick bottomed kadhai and on medium heat add the mustard seeds. When they splutter add the cumin seeds . When this sizzles, add the chopped garlic and chana dal and saute till the dal changes colour

To this, add the asafoetida, split green chillies and curry leaves . Saute for 1-2 minutes.

Next add the potato cubes, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Mix well

Now add the moringa leaves and cook covered on medium heat stirring from time to time till they wilt

(If the moringa leaves are not tender, sprinkle a little water and cook covered on medium heat till they are done)

Switch off the gas and transfer the dish to a serving bowl

Serve the Moringa Leaves & Potato Stir Fry as a side dish with hot steamed rice and sambar or rasam.