Murungai keerai Soup | Drumstick leaves Soup | Soup Recipe.

Murunga keerai Soup, a delicious and healthy soup made from drumstick leaves. Drumstick leaves is the most nutritious part of the plant and it has significant amount of vitamin A,B,C,K, manganese and protein(Source:Wiki). 

Include them in our diet regularly aids great benefit to our health. Apart from making poriyal  or adding into adai, this soup is another delicious way of consuming them. 

Few months back,when i was in India, i got introduced to this soup by the neighbour at my MIL's place. It was so flavorful & delicious and trigger your appetite within 1/2 hr of having this soup, so keep the food ready before having this soup😉. 

Since our neighbour at MIL's place is having drumstick tree in their front yard whenever they harvest drumsticks or cutting off the out growing branches, they used to share the excess with near ones. And also they used to make this soup frequently and share with us a couple of times.

Ever since i had tasted this, i want to make on my own. Last week when we went for grocery shopping at Indian store, luckily i found fresh drumsticks leaves, without a second though bought two packs. 

Guess,What? The following day itself i made this soup with the taste and flavor that i had remembered. To my surprise, it turned out super delicious with subtle flavor. Next time, when i'm at MIL's place, hopefully will try to get their recipe and share here. 

As of now, let's checkout on how i have prepared the healthy murungai keerai soup. 

Murungai keerai Soup | Drumstick leaves Soup

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Soup | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Indian
Murungai Keerai soup, Drumstick leaves Soup, healthy soup, Murunga keerai Soup, a delicious and healthy soup made from drumstick leaves.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Drumstick leaves - 2 cups(tightly packed)
Pearl onion - 4
Garlic - 4 pods
Cumin seed - 1 tsp
Butter - 1 tsp
Salt & pepper - to taste.

Procedure

First remove the drumstick leaves from the stem, wash them well and put it in a pressure cooker along with pear onion,garlic &cumin seeds.

Add 1 cup of water and put the lid and whistle on the pressure cooker & cook it for 2 whistle and let the pressure releases automatically. Let it cool for a while.

Then add them in to the mixie/blender jar and puree them.Strain them and keep the extract ready.

In a sauce pan, melt the butter and add the drumstick leaves extract.

Season it with salt and butter, let it boil for 2-3 mins.

Tada, Healthy and tasty Drumstick leaves soup is ready.

Related: How to make Murungai Keerai Poriyal

Notes:

• This soup has mild bitter taste from the drumstick leaves.
• It tastes great when had it as hot/warm.
• Instead of butter, you can use sesame oil too.
• Adjust the consistency as you like.
  

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Spinach Masiyal | Spinach Kadaiyal | Spinach Recipe

Spinach Masiyal/Kadaiyal, an easy accompaniment for your rice made from Spinach. Usually we do masiyal/kadaiyal with aarai keerai and it goes well with kara kuzhambu and rice. 

But here i couldn't find most of indian greens, so always ended up in buying spinach. Most of time i prepare either spinach dal or spinach kootu and we love both the dishes so i didn't think of making any other dishes with spinach as accompaniment for our rice.
Last week, for a change,i had prepared this masiyal by following my aarai keerai masiyal recipe, to my surprise it turned out so delicious and within 10 days already i had prepared this twice,now you knew how tasty it would be. So without further delay,let's see the recipe.

Spinach Masiyal

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Serves : 2 to 3 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Spinach - 2 cups
Garlic pods - 3 
Red Chili - 2
Jeera/Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp(approx)
To Temper
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Pearl Onion - 2(finely chopped) 
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Procedure

Heat a kadai with 1/4 cup of water, add garlic & chili.

Then add the jeera, once the water comes to boil, keep it in medium flame and cook it for 3 mins.

Add spinach  and cook till it becomes soft. It takes approx 5 mins in medium flame. Switch off the flame and let it  cool.

 Add the cooked spinach into blender/mixie jar along with salt and grind into smooth paste, transfer into bowl and finally temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add into it.

Tasty & Healthy Spinach Masiyal is ready.

Related: How to make Keerai Puli Kuzhambu

Notes:

• Garlic gives wonderful flavor to the masiyal,so if your garlic pod is small, add few more garlic.
• Let the spinach cool completely before grinding.
• Adjust the chili as per your taste.
• If you've more water from the cooked spinach, don't add all the water while grinding, add as needed and discard the remaining.
  

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Keerai Kootu | Spinach dal | Palak Dal | Palak Kootu

Keerai Kootu,an easy and healthy accompaniment made with any greens and dal.For this recipe, you can use whatever the greens you like, here today i have prepared this keerai kootu with spinach.

This keerai kootu is almost similar to the accompaniment served in restaurant along with meals.If you had meals in any restaurant at Tamilnadu, you might knew what i'm talking about.To be honest, I was not a big fan of any accompaniment that served with meals in restaurants, for that fact any meals at all. 

But a few years ago, when we were travelling from Bangalore to Tirunelveli, we stopped for lunch at the restaurant(forgot the name) nearby Thirumangalam toll gate at around 3 PM, we both were extremely hungry, so i too ordered meals on that day, normally i stick with tiffin items in restaurant. But i was glad that i ordered meals on that day, it was so good and particularly i liked this keerai kootu from their full meals.

Later i tried this keerai kootu with what i had remembered from that day and it turned out super delicious and it became a staple accompaniment in our home.Recently i noticed that i didn't post about this, so a few days before i had tried with spinach for the first time and we like it so much and now i'm here with the post.

Keerai Kootu

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: accompaniment | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Keerai Koootu, Spinach Dal, Palak Keerai Kootu, Palak dal, Palak Kootu Keerai Kootu,an easy and healthy accompaniment made with any greens and dal.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Spinach - 2  cup tightly packed
Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Chana dal - 1 tbsp
Onion (small) - 1/2
Tomato(small)  - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Asafoedita powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1/2 tsp
To Temper
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Mustard & urad dal -1/2 tsp
Red chili - 1 

Procedure

In a pressure cooker,add the washed moong dal , asafoedita  powder & water . Then in the small bowl, add chana dal with 1/4 cup of water and place it in the pressure cooker and cook it for three whistle.

Once the pressure is automatically released from the pressure cooker, open it & keep it aside until use. Chop the onions and tomato into small pieces and roughly chop the spinach.Heat a kadai with oil.

Add the onions and saute till it transparent,then add the tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes are soft.

Then add the spinach and saute till it shrinks, then add the spices (turmeric & red chili powder) & salt.

Mash the moong dal with laddle and add into the spinach, then add the chana dal.

Mix it well, if needed add water and bring to boil for few minutes.In the meantime, temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" & add into the spinach dal and switch off the flame.

That's it , Keerai Kootu is ready to serve.

Related: How to make Spinach Masiyal

Notes:

• Pressure cooking both the dal together works better for me, by the time, moong dal is mashed, the chana was softly cooked yet retain its shape,the way i liked it.
• Instead of pressure cooking chana dal, you can soak it for 1/2 hr and then cook it in kadai for 10 mins before adding spinach.
• If you wish, add few chopped garlic along with onions, sometimes i do and sometimes i don't.
• You can make this with moong dal alone too.
  

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Spinach Dal | Paruppu Keerai | Pasalai Keerai Kadaiyal | Dal Palak

Spinach dal, already i have a recipe for spinach dal in my blog, this one is quite different from that.In this recipe, spinach is grinded into smooth paste and add it along with dal. I have had this kind of spinach dal in few restaurants, to recreate the dish, i browse through images online and the image from rakskitchen looks quite similar to the one i had in restaurants. I tried her recipe with few changes according to my preference and it turns out really delicious and it becomes a keeper recipe.I makes this spinach dal frequently atleast once in every two weeks and it taste great with both rice and chapathi.

Spinach Dal

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: India

Ingredients
Spinach - 2 1/4 cup tightly packed
Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Garlic - 3 
Cumin seed - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Asafoedita powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1/2 tsp
To Temper
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Mustard & urad dal -1/2 tsp

Procedure

Wash the dal and put it in pressure cooker along with asafoedita powder, cover the lid, put on weight and cook for 3 whistle or till it becomes mushy.In the mean time, heat the pan with oil, add the cumin seed and roughly chopped garlic, saute for 2 mins.Then add the washed spinach in the pan, stir well, cover the pan with lid and cook the spinach.Let it cool completely.Put it in mixie jar and grind into smooth paste. Once the pressure released from the cooker automatically, open the lid and mash it slightly.Add the spices(turmeric & red chili powder) & salt and heat the dal again,add 1/4 cup of water and  bring the dal  to boil.Then add the spinach paste.If needed, add water(i used the water from washed mixie jar ), bring to slight boil and switch off  the flame.Temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add it in spinach dal.That's it , tasty & healthy spinach dal is ready.We had it with rice, mushroom masala & omelette.

Notes:

• Adding good amount of garlic & cumin seed gives great flavor to this dal.
• You can adjust the amount of dal and spinach as per your preference.
• My garlic pods are big, so use 3, it gives approx 1 tbsp of chopped garlic. Adjust the garlic numbers as per your garlic size.
• Instead of moong dal, you can use toor dal too. 
• I used baby spinach , if you are using spinach bunch, remove the stack from the leaves.
• If needed, squeeze lemon juice while serving.

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Agathi Keerai Poriyal | Agathi Keerai stir fry

Agathi Keerai Poriyal, a delicious stir fry made from the South Indian greens known as "Agathi Keerai". Usually Amma makes this poryial  on Thuvadesi morning along with other accompaniment, to break the previous day(Ekadashi) fasting. It's kind of tradition to cook this green on Thuvadesi day and honestly i don't know the reason ! 

I read it somewhere that it has amazing cooling effects therefore It's good to include this in out diet once in  a while. So whenever i  see them on farmer's market, immediately i would buy a bunch and make this simple poriyal. You can serve this with sambar & rice, a great combination. 

Ok, now let's see how to make this agathi keerai poriyal

Agathi Keerai Poriyal

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Agathi Keerai, Agathi Keerai Poriyal Agathi Keerai Poriyal, a delicious stir fry made from the South Indian greens known as "Agathi Keerai".

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Agathi Keerai - 1 bunch
Onion - 1(medium)
Red chili - 4 to 5
Grated coconut - 3 tbsp
Salt - as needed

To Temper
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal -1/2 tsp
Channa dal - 1 tsp

Procedure

Remove the leaves from the stalks , wash it well & keep ready. Cut the onion into small pieces.Heat the pressure pan, temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" , then add onions & red chili. Saute it well.
Once the onion became translucent , add the keerai & saute it. Keerai reduces in volume after sauteing for a while.At that add 1/4 cup of water, close the lid ,put whistle & cook for 2 whistle.Once the pressure released, open the lid & again put it in flame & allow the water to evaporate(if it's there). Now add salt & coconut . Mix it well & switch off the flame.Agathi Keerai poriyal is ready. 

Related : How to make Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal

Note

• This keerai takes a lot of time to cook,so i used pressure pan, but you can cook in open pot too. 

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Arai Keerai Kadaiyal/Masiyal

Arai Keerai Masiyal/Kadaiyal - Easy to prepare and most comfortable dish.In our home, mom makes this often, mostly along with Puli Kuzhambu. 

Hot steaming rice with puli kuzhambu & Keerai Kadaiyal is such a great combo.My DH also likes this combination, so i too prepare this often in my home now.Now let see how to make this simple yet delicious kadaiyal.

Ingredients

Arai Keerai - 1 small bunch(yields approx 2 cup after removing stalks)
Garlic pods - 7 nos(small)
Green chili - 1 no
Jeera/Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
Pearl Onion - 2 nos
Salt - 1/4 tsp(approx)

To Temper
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Procedure
First remove the leaves from the stalks , wash it and keep it ready.

Heat a kadai , add 1/4 cup water, once water comes to boil, add garlic,jeera,green chili,onion and allow it to cook for 4-5 mins.

Then add keerai and cook it. It takes approx 10 min in medium flame.Once cooked, switch off the flame and allow to cool.

Then put it in blender/mixie along with salt and grind into paste.

Finally temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add into it.

Tasty & Healthy Arai Keerai Masiyal is ready.

Note

• Adjust the chili , according to your taste.
• Dont reduce the garlic, it gives great flavor.
• Even you can use red chili instead of green one. 

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