Drumstick stirfry | How to make healthy Moringa stir fry

Moringa / Drumstick is one of the most used vegetable in south Indian cooking. We call it MurungaiKai in Tamil, Munagakaya in Telugu.

From its root, stem, leaves and flowers to pods, every part of it is useful to human in certain way.

Uses of Moringa in South Indian cuisine

Sambar, which is one of the famous south Indian lentil based curry is never complete without drumstick, for me. The drumstick pods give it a unique taste and flavor which you can feel only when you have it.

Other than Sambar, we use it in Aviyal one of the well-known south Indian dish with many vegetables. But, during its seasons, we used to get more of this vegetables from our farm during my childhood.

My memory gracefully recalls the day we donated more drumstick to a local church through our primary school.

Those days the availability of Moringa gave us opportunity to try more condiments with it.

Ours is rice based meal. So, as a side dish to rice, Mom used to make drumstick stir fry, without adding any other vegetables. It is all drumstick only. We all loved the taste. It’s been long years. But, the taste still remains well within me.

Now, in Kuwait, I rarely find good Moringa as it comes through different shipments, it becomes dry and half spoilt by the time it comes to vegetables shop. I had to search and find good ones most of the times. So, I don’t buy more quantity usually.

But, recently I happened to see good fresh moringa in our nearby vegetables shop. Picked all I wanted to make use of it for different dishes throughout the week.

My mom’s drumstick stir fry was surely in the list. After long days, I prepared drumstick stir fry at home in same procedure we always do at mom’s home.

We use Moringa pods alone for this stir fry. It tastes delicious and really healthy too.

Whenever we make moringa stir fry, moringa pods soup follows it by default. Because we get the moringa boiled water as base broth for this soup.

Moringa plant has so many health benefits.

Health benefits of Moringa pods

We will see the benefits of Moringa pods here. Our elders suggest this vegetable to improve overall wellness.

• Moringa pods with its seeds are rich in nutrients like zinc, fibre, iron, calcium and anti-cancerous.
• As it is great source of zinc, it can play great role in regulating blood-sugar levels.
• The rich fibre in it is good for digestive system.
• It is one of most important iron source for vegetarians.
• The calcium in it helps reduce the joint pains and avoid arthritis.
• Some even say that it helps in reducing the bad cholesterol.
• It is rich in Vitamin A, B, C   too.
• As it has got antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, regular consumption improves the skin and overall health.

For all these reasons and its taste, we all love drumstick stir fry.

The traditional method of stir fry uses coconut oil, as it gives unique flavor to the dish.

Watch the video for visual demo.

The recipe is as follows:

Required ingredients:

Drumstick	5 nos, chopped to 2 inch pieces
Coconut oil	1 tbsp
Mustard and urad dal	1 tsp
Curry leaves	Few
Red chilli	2
Shallots	¼ cup finely chopped
Green chilli	1 or 2, as per spice requirement
Cumin	1 tsp
Garlic cloves	4
Coconut pieces	2 tbsp
Salt	As required

Preparation Method of Moringa stir fry

1. Boil the drumstick pieces with required salt in hot water until they become soft, but not mushy.
2. After the drumstick is cooked, drain the water to a bowl. We can use this water to prepare soup or Rasam.
3. Heat the kadai and oil. Temper with mustard urad dal, curry leaves and red chilli.
4. Add chopped shallots and fry until it turns brown.
5. Add cooked drumstick pieces.
6. Grind green chilli, cumin, garlic and coconut coarsely and add this ground mix to drumstick.
7. Mix it along without breaking the drumstick pieces and cook for couple of minutes more.
8. Turn off the heat and serve it as side dish with rice and some curry.

Step-wise pictures:

1. Boil the drumstick pieces with required salt in hot water until they become soft, but not mushy.
   
2. After the drumstick is cooked, drain the water to a bowl. We can use this water to prepare soup or Rasam.
3. Heat the kadai and oil. Temper with mustard urad dal, curry leaves and red chilli.
   
4. Add chopped shallots and fry until it turns brown, then add cooked drumstick pieces.
   
5. Grind green chilli, cumin, garlic and coconut coarsely and add this ground mix to drumstick.
6. Mix it along without breaking the drumstick pieces and cook for couple of minutes more.
   
7. Turn off the heat and serve it as side dish with rice and some curry.
   

Tip – You should not cook drumstick in pressure cooker, it will turn mushy soft and for this recipe we need it correctly cooked only until its soft. So, you can cook covered and take it out in correct stage.