Recipe For a Monsoon Moringa Leaf Thoran
Usually grown in backyards, sometimes available in vegetable markets, moringa leaves have a unique, slightly astringent, slightly bitter taste. The easiest preparation of this super food is a thoran or stir fry with coconut.
My grandparents' home was walking distance from the Ramganga river, with its clear gurgling waters gushing under low hanging branches. The temple chariot was parked under a tamarind tree near the entrance to the agraharam (Brahmin settlements). Right next to the chariot was a high cement platform used where we children would gather on summer afternoons with stolen tamarind, salt, jaggery and chilly powder, which we would pound with a stone to make the most delicious lollipops imaginable.
Paati was always cooking and thatha, seated on a swing in the porch, invited every passerby in for a meal. “She is my Annapurna,” he would say, making her smile. In the rainy season, thatha would bring a basketful of mangoes ripened on their stems, sweet as nectar. The mangoes would be left to rest in a tub of cold water from the well, then we would sit in the backyard and and eat them till until we were full.
Sometimes it would rain incessantly, and the vegetable seller wouldn’t arrive. So, after breakfast, paati would cut a few branches from the moringa tree in the backyard and put us to work, stripping the leaves off the stem. Once there was a large enough mound of leaves, she would gather them deftly with both hands and slice them with her armamanai.
The moringa greens would cook gently in a manchatti, with a tempering of mustard seeds, urad dal, whole red chilies, salt and turmeric, and kayam or hing, with an occasional sprinkling of water. She would add a tsp of sugar, with a cup of scraped coconut mixed in jeera and chilli, and the thoran would be ready.
A rainy day lunch meant mambazha mor kuzhambu, with moringa leaves thoran and aama vadai, with every ingredient foraged from the backyard!
RECIPE FOR MORINGA LEAF THORAN
Ingredients
2/3 cup moringa leaves, washed and chopped
1/2 coconut scraped
2 tbsp scraped coconut, dry grind with 1 tsp of jeera and half a dry red chilly (mix this with the scraped coconut and 1 tsp of sugar)
1 tbsp gingelly oil
Salt, to taste
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1 red chilli, broken
Method
In a wok, heat the oil and add mustard seeds, urad dal and red chilli.
Once the mustard sputters, add the moringa leaves, salt, cover with a sprinkling of water and cook.
If the leaves are fresh, it should take 5-7 minutes to cook on a low flame.
After five minutes, remove the lid and add the coconut mixture. Mix well, check for salt and cook uncovered for 2 minutes .
Serve the thoran with rice or roti.
Meena Raj is a writer and sculptor with roots in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.