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.

DRUMSTICK LEAVES CURRY

 DRUMSTICK LEAVES CURRY

In case you didn't know, drumstick leaves ( also known as Moringa Leaves) are considered to be super healthy. It can do you a lot of good in many ways as detailed in this article from PharmEasy. "Moringa Leaves- 16 Health Benefits You Should Know".

Decades ago almost every house in Bengaluru used to have a drumstick tree in their back yard. In my parents house we had one such tree so I have been used to dishes made with drumsticks and drumstick leaves since childhood. These days of course things are very different. Yet, if you can get hold of drumstick leaves, please do use them as often as you can. 

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

• Murungai Keerai Poricha Kuzhambu from Tamilnadu
• Mashinga Palle Sanna Polo from our Konkani cuisine
• Nugge Soppina Rotti from Karnataka

Today's recipe is for a curry made with these health-filled drumstick leaves. I prefer to make this rather thick so that we can enjoy them with hot chapatis but you can adjust the consistency and make it more gravy- like to have with hot steamed rice. 

Do give it a try and let me know what you thought of this dish. 

Ingredients:-

• Drumstick/ Moringa Leaves, 2 cups
• Green Gram (Moong) Dal, 1/3 cup
• Turmeric Powder, 1/2 tsp
• Medium-sized Onion, 1
• Medium-sized Tomato, 1
• Salt, to taste

To Be Ground To A Paste:-

• Fresh Coconut Gratings, 1/3 cup
• Green Chillies, 2
• Cumin Seeds, 1 tsp

For Seasoning:-

• Mustard Seeds, 1 tsp
• Dry Red Chilli, broken into halves, 1
• Blackgram (Split Urad) Dal, 2 tsp
• Oil, 2 -3 tsp

Method:-

Remove the drumstick leaves from their stems 

Discard the stems -retaining only the very tender and small ones

Wash and chop the drumstick leaves. Keep aside

Finely chop the onion, chop the tomato and green chillies

Wash the moong dal and pressure cook in adequate water adding a little turmeric powder, for 3-4 whistles

Once the cooker cools, remove the cooked dal and mash it with the back of a ladle. Keep aside

In a small mixer jar, grind together fresh coconut gratings, chopped green chillies and cumin seeds to a smooth paste adding just the required amount of water. Keep aside

Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pan and on medium heat add the mustard seeds

When they splutter add the urad dal  and broken red chilli and sauté till the dal changes colour

To this add the finely chopped onion and sauté till they turn translucent

Next add the chopped tomato and a little salt and turmeric powder and sauté till the tomato becomes soft and mushy 

When the tomato is cooked add the chopped drumstick leaves, mix well and add a little water

Cook the drumstick leaves on medium heat stirring from time to time

Do not cover this while cooking

Once the drumstick leaves are cooked, add the mashed dal and the ground paste prepared earlier

Mix well and add salt to taste

Add water as required to get the desired consistency

Cook for another 2-3 minutes

Switch off the gas and transfer the Drumsticks Leaves Curry to a serving bowl

Serve with rice, chapati, etc