Moringa curry

“Eat seasonal fruits & vegetables”

We have heard this often, to eat seasonal fruits and vegetables for more nutrition and fuller flavour. I believe the idea behind this is to consume food directly from the source, also minimising storage and processing.

To take this one step further, I would say consume foods that grow naturally in your locality/region because nature always knows better. The best proof of the latter is to often find local produce that are totally suited to the lifestyle of the native people, the climate of the region, soil, rains and so on.  In fact, the trees growing in a particular region are also perfectly suited and useful to where they are. There is this harmonious, give-and-take relationship between all the species in a particular region, be it plants, animals or humans. What about those regions, where man has so much interfered with nature? There, this sort of finding is very rare.
However, when I found some fresh moringa leaves at a shop in London, I was quick to buy them. I know what I just said about eating local produce! Actually, I realised I have missed these so much.

The Moringa Curry

The moringa curry made by my mother has been one of my favourites growing up. I reminisce seeing the trees almost in every household with a garden, the slender drumsticks hanging down from the branches. It was common practice in our home to have moringa leaves or the drumsticks at least twice a week.
The white and light yellow moringa flowers can be made into a stir fry.

Ingredients:

I prepared the curry following my mother’s recipe. It includes:

Toor dal(a kind of lentil also called pigeon peas)
Moringa leaves (picked and nicely washed)
Turmeric powder
Coconut, cumin & whole pepper made into a fine paste.
Tempering with mustard seeds, crushed garlic and dried red chillies.

Benefits of Moringa leaves:

Moringa Oleifera is also known as the “drumstick tree”. It’s a nutrient-dense plant packed with calcium, iron, B vitamins, potassium, magnesium and vitamin C.

They are a rich source of B-carotene and also contain polyphenols such as quercetin, rutin and chlorogenic acid.

Now, let me share some local talk about the tree.. the native people always spoke about drumstick being an aphrodisiac and there were jokes about this in the regional movies too.

Moringa powder

There is so much talk about the moringa powder, I felt I should try this at home. It has come out beautifully well, with a nice green colour. The next time, I would rather improvise and add a bunch more of the moringa leaves, as it tends to reduce a lot after the drying process.