A Moringa sapling silhouetted against the grey sky…
Moringa feels kind of extra special because it is food and memories and so much more than just a plant/tree.
Botanical Name: Moringa oleifera. Family: Moringaceae.
Commonly known as the drumstick, it is one of the favorites in our homes. Here are the many ways in which we use it –
- The drumstick pods mostly go into the sambar, which the kids love to bits.
- The leaves are much sought after but not as easily available. Their presence makes the Adai dosai a doubly delectable one!
- We also make a simple stir fry dish using the leaves that goes well with a regular rice-sambar meal. The flowers can also go into this one 🙂
- Recently, we made the drumstick leaves chutney powder. Tastes yummm with hot rice and ghee! Or chutney powder + curd as an accompaniment to roti/chapati…
Moringa is now hailed as a super food full of health benefits. Almost all parts of the plant/tree being useful. However, to us, it’s been a traditional food, a part of our various cuisines and collective food culture!! That’s amazing, isnt it?
I also recall seeing this in some South Indian movies – wives enticing their husbands with ‘moringa’ based foods, proof that we have been aware of its aphrodiasic properties all along 😀 Something that ‘studies’ have uncovered only fairly recently…
There is a lot of information available related to this plant, what with it being a superfood and all. Here’s the wiki link for those of you interested in knowing more.
**********
Joining this week’s edition of #ThursdayTreeLove hosted by Parul 🙂 . The linky goes live on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month. Hop over to see and enjoy more tree pictures and stories!
If you would like to play along, post a picture of a tree on your blog and link it back to her latest #thursdaytreelove post.
Until next time!
Cheers 🙂
SoftyPink n GloriousRed 
This is one of our favourite food too. Drumstick and also leaves..You made me laugh recalling those old movies scene about serving this food as you mentioned.. the click of leaves against the sky is beautiful.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hehe… glad you could relate, Shilpa!
Thank you 🙂 Have a lovely weekend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had to look up the dishes you described, as I am not that familiar with your cuisine. WebMD, a respected medical website in the United States, has a lot of positive things to say about moringa; the only real negative was that bark of this tree can possibly cause miscarriage. But lots and lots of positives. It has a pretty leaf, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! glad that you looked it up and also found useful information, Alana 🙂
Thank you! Have a lovely weekend.
LikeLike
Delicious post Priya!! 🙂 The bit about using foods with these leaves to ‘entice their husbands’ is new to me..:-) Lovely photots..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Archana 🙂 Have a lovely weekend!
LikeLike
I feel a bit ashamed that I only know of drumstick but never tried the leaves or had something that had moringa leaves. High time I try to make something. I will look up some recipes. Thank you Priya for sharing. I love the picture and more so the facts that I learnt from this post.
Hope to see you back on the 13th.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah…yes there’s always so much going on in the food /food culture scene, there are many such surprises. Noting to be ashamed of though. I’m so glad you found this post useful Parul 🙂
Indeed hope to join you for the next one too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is a very versatile tree and I have tried several times to use its leaves and flowers in making something in the kitchen but wasn’t very successful. I need to learn from someone who does this regularly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah.. the chutney powder would be the simplest one. Its a great addition, healthwise too, if you like to use such items in your daily meals.
Thank you Shalz 🙂 Have a lovely day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting post and agree with the food connection, very popular in our house- the drumstick sambaar was and is my favorite… the leaves also is supposed to be good for health. I never really tried the leaves, thanks for sharing and Yes I did hear about enticing the husband….:) 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey, glad you can relate to it Angela 🙂
Thank you. have a lovely day.
LikeLike
I had never heard of this tree/food with its beautiful, delicate leaves. So much still to discover in the world!
LikeLiked by 1 person
True that!! Its amazing to learn of new plants and trees, thanks to this blog hop…its wonderful!
Thank you JoAnna 🙂 Have a lovely day.
LikeLike
Moringa..the miracle tree 🎄 I love to cook as many recipies as I could..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderful! Thanks for hopping over and sharing your thoughts, Syamala. Have a lovely day 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person