THE STICK SOUP

There was this moringa/drumstick/sajana tree in one of my aunt’s house just on the edge of her terraced ginger fields. The feathery crown with long stick like pods waving in the breeze captured my childish imagination and I immediately named it the stick tree. My ayah told me that the flowers of this tree were eaten and were so delicious. “Even better than chicken” these words really impressed me as after living in our vegetarian household my ayah was always ravenous for meat. Plus moringa flowers never found their way to our kitchen and everything out of reach was automatically deemed to be very delicious.I longed for quite some time to eat the better than chicken moringa flowers. Anyway it was after almost 20 years I actually got to eat it in faraway Delhi. A colleague shared it out of her lunch box and disappointed me. Not that the preparation was bad but I guess my expectations based on childhood imagination was too much for reality.
Later on I discovered a whole lot of dishes using moringa. They serve a tangy tomato and moringa curry in Andhra Bhawan in Delhi which has climbed into my favorites’ list comfortably. Moringa leaves fried in ghee with a little salt are absolutely heavenly. I even ate moringa rice which however couldn’t impress my taste buds much. In my staid house moringa was used in the occasional sambhar and more frequently a jhol (soup) however we all enjoyed this simple preparation and the thoroughly chewed piles of moringa bore testimony to our satisfaction. This dish though stupefying simple to prepare is just the thing when you want to eat something light.
INGREDIENTS
5 drumstick/moringa/sajana fruits cut into 2” bits
1 potato peeled and cut lengthwise into quarters
1 onion sliced
1 tomato finely chopped
1” ginger ground into a paste
½ tsp of mustard seeds
½ tsp of turmeric powder
¾ tsp salt
4 cups water
1 tsp oil
LET’S DO IT
Heat the oil and sputter the mustard seeds
Add the onions and ginger paste and fry till onions turn translucent
Add the potatoes, drumsticks and salt and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.
Add the turmeric powder and tomatoes and cook on the low flame for 5 minutes
Add the water, turn up the heat and bring to a boil.