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Murangakai Curry

Today, I am cooking with one of your father's most un-favorite vegetable which you at the age of 2 - 3 would completely gobble up. I absolutely love it too. Drumsticks! I don't blame him for not liking it, he has never tried it and he probably never ever will.


So here comes what you need:

2-3 long drumsticks, washed, lightly scraped if rough and chopped into two inch pieces.
Sunflower Oil and a cup of Coconut milk.
All the other ingredients shown in the picture below:


You need onions, tomatoes, ginger, Garlic, jeera, black pepper, curry leaves, turmeric, red chilli powder, corriander seeds powder and cinnamon.
And Sendha namak

And heres what you do:

Steam/Boil the drumsticks and keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadai, add jeera and black pepper, followed by ginger, garlic and curry leaves. Mix well. When the curry leaves are crisp, add onion and cook till translucent. Next add tomato and the dry spices and sendha namak. Cook covered with a water filled plate on top.

Remove plate when you see a lot of bubbles on top. Mix and mash the mixture till all tomatoes are well blended in the gravy. If mixture seems to be drying, add the water from steamed drumsticks. Next add coconut milk and stir continuously so the flavors blend. Use a blender to make a pasty mixture if required.

Now add the drumsticks and bring to boil.

Switch off the flame when ready and try serving with brown basmati rice (if you must use rice).

Why we do what we do:

Drumsticks are pungent, bitter, drying and light to digest while coconut milk is sweet, nourishing and heavy to digest.

Drumsticks have a heating potency while coconut milk is cooling. Drumsticks can balance vitiated Vata and Kapha dosha while increasing pitta, they are highly alkalizing. Coconut milk on the other hand, balances vitiated Vata and Pitta dosha while increasing Kapha.

While drumsticks are high in fiber (though most of us hardly consume the fibrous exterior) while coconut milk is prepared by removing the fiber from ground mature coconut flesh.

Both these ingredients blend beautifully to make a complete whole meal which some can enjoy without rice too but basmati rice is said to be balancing for all three doshas. I like to use a ratio of 1:4 brown : white rice here.

Drumsticks have many potential benefits, they are useful in treating worm infestations, they are antioxidant, antidiabetic, rich in proteins, vitamins (like Vitamin C) and minerals (like calcium). Drumsticks are also blood purifiers with excellent antibacterial properties that can help fight infections.

Coconut oil / milk also has many potential health benefits, they are rich in saturated fats (of particular interest is the medium chain fatty acids). 

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