Munakkaya Rasam / Drumsticks soup

Drumstick - I call this as wonder stick. It’s health benefits are plenty and it is said to cure many an ailments. Here are some of its health benefits.

Juice of Drum stick when mixed in milk and offered to children greatly helps by strengthening their bones as it is said to be a great source of Calcium. Also drumstick is said to be a great blood purifier.

Pregnant women should often eat drumsticks as it helps ease any kind of pre and post delivery complication.

Drumstick soup helps ease any kind of chest congestions, coughs and sore throats.

Inhaling steam of water in which drumsticks have been boiled helps ease asthma and other lung problem.

This is another way of benefiting from this wonderful God's given gift.

Ingredients:

Toor daal - 1/4 cup
Drumsticks - 2 cut them into 2 inch size pieces

Ripe tomatoes - 3-4

Tamarind - 1/2 lemon size

Salt - as per taste

Rasam powder - 2 tsp

For seasoning - 

Oil - 1 tbsp

Curry leaves - 1 string

Coriander leaves chopped - 1 tbsp

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Garlic pods - 1 or 2 pounded

Dry chili - 1 or 2

Method:

Boil the tomatoes and drumsticks by adding 2 pinches of salt. Mash the tomatoes.
Boil the toor daal, mash it and keep it aside.
Soak tamarind in some hot water, squeeze the juice.
Heat a deep sauce pan, and add oil to it.

When the oil is warm enough, add crushed garlic pods, dry chili and then mustard, cumin and curry leaves. 

When the garlic gets slightly roasted, add the tomato mixture, boiled drumsticks, tamarind juice and the mashed toor daal. 

Add the required amount of salt, rasam powder and bring it to boil. Add chopped coriander at the end and remove from the fire.

Drumsticks Curry / Munakkaya pulusu

A curry made from the unripe drumstick pods sauted in tomatos & onions gravy with added peanuts paste and some mild spices. The peanut paste gives the unique flavour to the curry.

Munakkaya pulusu

There are lots of medicinal values in drumsticks.

The tender drumstick pods acts as a preventive against intestinal worms.

Drumsticks other miraculous quality is,-its ability to purify water. They have been used by households for centuries. But it has only recently been tested commercially. Powdered Moringa seeds, when added to murky, bacteria-laden water, act as a coagulant, binding to the bacteria and silt and falling to the bottom of the vessel. The clean water can then be poured out.

The pods made into a soup are prescribed as a diet in sub-acute cases of enlarged liver and spleen, articular pains, tetanus, debility of nerves, paralysis, pustules, patches and leprosy.

Ingredients:

Drumsticks - 2-3 medium - Chopped into two inches pieces

Onion - 2 medium thinly sliced

Tomatoes - 3-4 medium sized

Tamarind pulp extracted from 2 lemons size tamarind.

Peanuts - 1 heaped tbsp , roasted and skinned

Grated dry coconut - 1 tbsp

Garlic pods - 2

Salt

Chili powder - 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - handful

Red chilli - 2

Oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

Heat a deep pan with oil. When it is warm enough add red chilli and curry leaves followed by sliced onion.

Add some salt and saute for a moment. Then add chopped tomatoes and saute them for a while until soft.

Add the drumsticks, mix every thing and add 2 cups of water and cover it with lid.

In the mean time blend the peanuts, coconut, garlic, coriander and chilli powder into fine powder. You can even make it into fine paste by adding little bit of water.

Add the peanuts mixture into the curry along with the tamarind pulp and allow it to cook thoroughly until the drumsticks get tender.

Remove from the heat and serve it with plain rice or with Raagi sangati.