MURINGA ELA PARIPPU CURRY

Every year for Good Friday, Amma would make Parippu curry, Pappadam & Rice for lunch. Then we would eat it with a good dollop of ghee poured over it. Ho! Enthoru ruchi aayirunnu! That Parippu curry wouldn't make an everyday appearance on our dining table,maybe once for Onam and once for Good Friday. We always have something non-vegetarian for our meals at home,so making a full vegetarian meal was a challenge or so we'd like to think! We would atleast need a Meen Varuthathu to go along with our rice.

For the past one week, I've been on a non-veg cooking spree,expecially Pork. So I was feeling a wee bit guilty for not cooking anything veg for my food loving family. Jobin and Ian eats everything that is served to them,they are so easy to please! I am the choosy one in the family and I don't eat every vegetable that's been served. Ian is the one that surprises me always. From the time he was born, feeding him has only been a pleasure. He loves to eat and doesn't even ask me what is it that I am feeding him!

So, the other day, I bought some Muringa Ela from the Indian store. Having cooked nothing vegetarian the past few days, I decided on making our usual lavish Saturday lunch a proper vegetarian meal. So this parippu curry made it's first appearance in our house along with some yard long beans mezhukkupuratti. Moringa leaves/Muringaela is a highly nutritious ingredient and pairing it with some dal and rice makes it a complete meal.The recipe for parippu curry is from Aswathy Mathan's book and the addition of Muringaela was my choice.

MURINGA ELA PARIPPU CURRY

Serves 6
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Toor Dal
2 serrano chilies,slit
1 teaspoon oil
1 heaping cup Muringa ela

To grind:
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 pearl onions
2 small cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cup grated coconut
3 dried bird's eye chilies / onakka kanthari (optional)

To temper:
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon sliced pearl onions
1 sprig curry leaves
2 dried red chilies

Method:
Pressure cook dal, serrano chilies,oil and muringa ela along with just enough water to reach an inch above it on medium heat for 3 whistles*.Once the pressure is released, open the cooker and mash the dal with the back of your spoon.
Meanwhile grind together the ingredients mentioned above. Add it to the cooked dal along with 1 cup of water**. Keep it on a slow flame and cook stirring continuously until it starts to steam gently. DO NOT let it boil. You just want a steady steam.
In a small pan, temper the ingredients mentioned above and pour over the hot dal. Check for salt & serve hot with Kerala Matta Rice.

*I did not soak the dal.
** This dal will thicken as it sits,so if you like to adjust the consistency,add some more water in step 2.

All of us relished this dal along with hot rice and ghee. I did not have any pappadam with me or else, it would have been the most perfect meal! Now that Vishu is just around the corner, I am planning for a mini sadya hoping that it will create some memories for Ian. I honestly don't know how much my new schedule is going to help me in prepping for it,but I will try to make the sadya happen. In the meantime, I hope you guys give this a try and let me know how it went!