Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal | Accompaniment for rice

Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal, a healthy accompaniment made from very few ingredients. Poonanganni keerai is known as Alternanthera sessilis or dwarf copper leaf in english. As i had mentioned earlier, the indian store here stock up these kind of rare greens when it's in season. So far, from my past experiences, most of the indian store carry majority of the north indian grocery items & veggies. Some ingredients specific to south india are mostly difficult to source like karupatti(palm jaggery),sunda vathal(dried turkey berries) and some veggies like siru kizhangu and this greens. But luckily here, the indian store stock all the seasonal veggies from throughout India, but you have to be on time to get those, most of the veggies would be out of stock within couple of days of arrival.
When i had first bought this keerai ,prepared kootu with it and it was really good and we both like it a lot, so on the next time, i tried poriyal. As excepted, it was also so good, this greens is so apt for both kootu and poriyal. If you haven't tried poriyal with ponnanganni keerai before, do give it a try. 

Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ponnanganni Keerai,Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal,Keerai Poriyal Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal, a healthy accompaniment made from very few ingredients. Poonanganni keerai is known as Alternanthera sessilis or dwarf copper leaf in english.

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

Ingredients
Ponnanganni Keerai - 1/2 bunch
Moong dal - 1 tbsp
Asafoetida powder - 1/8 tsp
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
To grind
Garlic - 2 
Pearl onion - 2
Green Chili -2 
Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
To Temper
Coconut oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Pearl onion - 1 (chopped)

Procedure

First remove the leaves from the ponnanganni keerai bunch and chop the leaves roughly into small pieces.In a kadai, bring one cup of water to boil,then add the moong dal and asafoetida powder, Cook the dal till it's half done, then add the ponnanganni keerai.Let it cook until it softens, in the mean time, grind the ingredients listed under "To grind" into coarse mixture.Add that grounded spice mix & enough salt into the keerai, let it cook until all the moisture evaporates.Next add the grated coconut,give a good mix and remove from the flame.Next temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add into the keerai.Tasty and healthy Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal is ready. Serve it as accompaniment for your meal. We had with rice, sambar.

Notes:

• This green takes long time to cook than the other greens.
• Coconut oil and coconut gives great flavor to this greens. So i highly recommend to use.
  

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Ponnanganni Keerai Kootu | Keerai Kootu | Accompaniment

Ponnanganni Keerai Kootu, a delicious and healthy accompaniment. Poonanganni keerai is known as Alternanthera sessilis or dwarf copper leaf in english. It's grown mainly on south asian region and exclusively used in Srilankan and South Indian cuisine. It's considered as super food and gives you lot of health benefits if included in the diet regularly. 

Here in Ottawa, the local indian store has stocked this kind of greens occasionally.Whenever i see this kind of rare greens, without a second thought i bought them. Few weeks back, on the same day, the store had the fresh stock of ponnaganni keerai, drumstick leaves & arai keerai. 

Guess what? I had bought all of them and in the next week, the greens would be the side dish for the whole week. If you're following me on Instagram, you might be knowing this already from my feed where i share my daily meal platter or the lunch box which i pack for ST. 

Ok, now let's check out the recipe for this healthy ponnanganni keerai kootu.

Ponnanganni Keerai Kootu

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Accompaniment | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
greens, kootu Recipe, Ponnanganni Keerai Kootu, Dwarf Copperlead, Toor Dal Ponnanganni Keerai Kootu, a delicious and healthy accompaniment made from dwarf copper leaf. It's considered as super food and has lot of health benefits if included in the diet regularly.

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

Ingredients
Ponnanganni Keerai - 1/2 bunch
Toor dal - 1/4 cup
Asafoetida powder - 1/8 tsp
Garlic - 3 
Pearl onion - 4
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
To Temper
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Procedure

First let's cook the dal, wash the dal and put it in the pressure cooker along with asafoetida powder and cook it for 2 whistle.

In the meantime, remove the ponnanganni keerai from the stalk, roughly chop them into pieces.

Once the pressure is released from the pressure cooker automatically, remove the lid, wash the greens and add into it.

Next add the onion,garlic and the spices (turmeric, red chili powder. Mix it well and cook it for 1 more whistle.

Again let the pressure from the cooker released automatically, then add the salt and let it boil for 2 mins. Transfer into a bowl, temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add into the keerai.

Tasty and healthy Ponnanganni Keerai kootu is ready. 

Serve it with rice and kulambu. We had with vatha kulambu, it was one such awesome combo.

Related : How to make Restaurant style Spinach Kootu

Notes:

• Since this greens takes long time to cook, i prefer to pressure cook them. But you can cook it in open pot too.
• Adjust the red chili powder as per your taste.
• For enhanced taste, use ghee for tempering. 
  

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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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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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