Massoppu by using Anne Soppu / Water spinach:

Massoppu is nothing but mashed greens with cooked lentils, which is the staple food of Bangalore- Mysore region and is an excellent accompaniment with either Ragi balls or rice. Usually Massoppu is prepared with mixed greens, which is available throughout the year.

We all know the fact that leafy greens are source of iron, calcium, vitamins, antioxidants and fibre and it is the best gift of nature.  Apart from the regular greens we sometimes find unique, seasonal, never seen greens with local soppu/ green vendors in the early morning hours, when they visit our locality. Only few people know the usage of local, seasonal edible greens which was consumed in rural India for centuries. These super foods are sold only in the hand pushed carts in our cities and sadly not at all available in modern super stores.

 Anne soppu comes under such category. After staying in Bangalore for 20 long years I had never seen this green and when I came across it this last week, asked my soppu vendor. He said, it is Anne soppu and is very tasty. Then comes my right hand, house help who grew up in rural Bangalore and knows every green which grows locally. She said, not only is it tasty, but also very nutritious.

According to her, Anne soppu grows wild, like a weed in between paddy or Finger millet/ Ragi fields during monsoon. It has long, arrow shaped leaves and crunchy, hollow stem which breaks very easily, while bending. It is known as Water spinach in English and Kalmi saag in West Bengal. Here is her recipe, which I made and relished and dedicating this post of mine to her.

How I proceeded with is –

Ingredients:

Toor dal – 1 cup

Anne soppu – 4 small bundles

Onion – 1

Garlic- 1 whole

Green chillies – 5 to 6

Tomatoes – 4

salt

For Seasoning –

Oil / ghee – 1 table spoon

Mustard – 1 tsp

Cumin – 1 tsp

Hing – ¼ tsp

Red chilli – 2

Curry leaves – 1 string

Method:

-Greens are like this-

-Clean the greens by discarding thick stem portions by hand.

-Wash and keep aside.

-Wash toor dal, chop onions, tomatoes.

-Take one pressure cooker, shift washed dal and pour water till just above the dal.

-Now place tomatoes, green chillies, onion, garlic, washed greens, salt and cook for 2 to 3 whistles.

-When pressure relieves, churn roughly in a hand blender or hand-held churner.

-Adjust the consistency of dal by adding water and adjust the salt and boil once.

 

-Now do seasoning by heating oil or ghee, splutter mustard, cumin, hing, red chilli and curry leaves and pour over boiled dal.

-Enjoy with hot rice and raw onions or with any sort of papads or tawa fries like me 😊

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Potato Roti / Chapati:

Today I am going to share one among my family’s favourite dishes, Sweet potato Parata/ roti. Sweet potato is a large starch, tuberous root vegetable. This tuber is not only readily available and very versatile but also contains vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, minerals like magnesium, iron and potassium along with beta carotene. When It is home grown, the joy doubles. It is an awesome tiffin box option for school going kids as well. I normally use these roti’s for preparing rolls, which stays fresh, soft for longer duration and enhances the taste of the roll with its natural sweetness. 

Ingredient:

Sweet potato – 2

Whole wheat powder – as needed

Kalonji / Onion Seed – 1 Tsp.

Milk – ½ cup

Oil – 2tsp

Salt – to taste

Method:

  • Boil sweet potato, remove skin and mash the flesh in a bowl or a food processor.

  • To this add onion seed, salt, milk, oil, along with whole wheat powder by adding little by little water prepare dough.
  • Take enough dough and prepare roti, just like our regular roti.

      Note: You can add flaxseed powder while making dough to enhance the nutritional value of this Roti.

Moringa / Drumstick leaves powder:

In our coastal area, we never used Moringa in any other form than using its pods which we call as drumstick as a vegetable. During my growing age, I tasted only drumstick in our style cooking. After marriage and coming to Bangalore, slowly I got used to its greens and blooms. My house- help, normally brings organic and home-grown drumstick greens in the spring season.

Moringa greens are packed with vitamins and nutrients and it is considered as a new superfood of the world. The leaves are rich in vitamins, calcium, iron and protein. I have read that, one ounce of moringa powder boasts seven times more vitamin C than oranges, 4 times more beta carotene than carrots, 3 times more potassium than bananas and 2 times more protein than yogurt.

Moringa leaves can be cooked like any other greens and included in our day to day cooking. Apart from that, we can dry it and keep it in a powdered form to add in our day to day consumption in the form of juice, smoothie or in seasonings. It is known to help with anxiety, lethargy, acidity, skin ailments and diabetes. After reading so much about this super food, I made an attempt to make homemade powder to include it in our diet and recipe is here –

main_Fotor 1

Ingredients:

Moringa Fresh leaves

Method:

-Wash the greens as it is with small branches intact, without removing leaves. And drain water.

-Spread these greens on a clean cloth indoors. No sun light is needed for this.

Ribbet collage 1

-After 2 days of drying, you will be able to remove all the tiny leaves without any hassles.

-Remove all the sticks and discard.

-Dry further for couple of days, until it is crisp to touch.

-Powder and collect fine powder by sieving.

Ribbet collage 2

-Spread this fine powder and dry for couple of hours to remove any traces of moisture.

-Store this in a clean jar and use as needed.

 

Orange – Nutella Swirl cupcakes:

These millet cupcakes are healthy and delicious at the same time,  a very good snack for all the kids who are studying hard for exams.

picture main

Ingredients:

Mixed millet flour- ½ cup

Whole wheat flour- ¼ cup

All-purpose flour – ¾ cup

Ghee – ¼ cup

Egg – 1

Sugar – ¾ cup

Salt – ¼ tsp

Baking powder – ¾ tsp

Baking soda – ¾ tsp

Curd – ¾ cup

Orange zest – 1 tsp

Nutella – as required

Method:

  • Pre-heat oven in 170 C. Line cupcake baking tray with paper liners.

collage 1

  • Mix all the dry ingredients like millet flour, whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour, baking powder and soda, sieve 2 to 3 times or mix with dry whisk.
  • Now take one more bowl or food processer, put egg, curd, sugar, ghee, salt and beat nicely.
  • Grate orange zest from outer surface of the orange (Don’t add any white part) and add this to liquid and beat one more time.
  • Now pour this wet mixture into dry ingredient mixture and fold in and mix everything lightly.
  • Don’t over mix.
  • Pour this mixture into cupcake tray by using the spoon.

collage 2

  • Drop Nutella on the top of each batter filled cupcake mould, swirl a little.
  • Bake this in a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes or until done.

picture main 2

  • Enjoy with evening tea. It is a good option as a snack as well.