Name: Murunga Keerai Paruppu Kadayal- Drumstick leaves dal
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2 Servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: Murunga keerai / Drumstick leaves: 2 cups; Toor dal: 3/4 cup; Oil: 2 tsp; Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp; Bengal gram dal: 1/2 tsp; Green chillies: 3; Red chillies: 3; Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp; Asafoetida: 1/4 tsp; Salt: to taste

Ingredients

2 cups Murunga keerai / Drumstick leaves

3/4 cup Toor dal

2 tsp Oil

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Bengal gram dal

3 Green chillies

3 Red chillies

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

to taste Salt

Directions

Murunga Keerai or drumstick leaves is known for its health benefits and medicinal properties hence I use it regularly . I cook the drum stick leaves in drumstick soup, and poriyal or dry curry and in this dal. Murunga keerai paruppu kadayal is a comfort food and can be eaten with plain white rice.

Murunga keerai paruppu kadayal

The leaves of Moringa Oleifera or drum stick tree or murunga keerai are excellent source of many vitamins and minerals.

It is high in antioxidants which act against free radicals in our body

It is said to lower blood pressure

It has anti inflammatory properties

It is believed to reduce cholesterol also

Since the leaves are rich in zinc, it aids in hair growth and skin health.

With so many medicinal properties , I think we should use moringa leaves regularly in our Menu. For the people who cannot source fresh moringa leaves, Now we do get moringa leaves in its dried form from Amazon. Ofcourse it might not substitute the fresh ones, but you can use it daily early in the morning with a glass of water.

I have used toor dal to make this paruppu kadayal. You can choose to use masoor dal too or you can even use the combination of moong dal and toor dal. The variations of this dal is the kadayal which uses onion and garlic. Since I didnt want to use them, I made it this way. We have it with rice and a dry curry, you can choose to have with roti too.

This month for the foodie monday bloghop, the suggested theme was cooking with greens and this healthy delicious murunga keerai paruppu kadayal is my entry for the bloghop

Steps

1 Done	Add enough water to the dal. Add turmeric powder and few drops of oil to this. Cook it in pressure cooker up to 4 whistles till the dal is completely cooked and mushy
2 Done	Heat the oil in a pan and when sufficiently hot, add the mustard seeds. When it begins to crackle add the red chillies, green chillies, asafoetida and bengal gram dal and saute for few secons. Now add the dal and washed drumstick leaves to it and cook in low flame for 5 minutes
3 Done	Add the necessary salt and water for the required consistency and cook for further 5 minutes in low flame till the leaves are well cooked. Switch off the fire and serve warm with hot rice and cry curry