Muringa ella/Drumstick leaves Thoran

Drumsticks must be quite a favorite for many of us and we have a hundred new ways of making those tender green pods. But to our surprise when we were picking these dark greeny drumstick leaves which is a rare find in our Indian grocers, lots of them asked us about what we'd do with them and how we'd cook them. That's when we realized its popular only down south, specially in Kerala where most homes have plenty of drumstick trees growing in the backyards and the pods, the flowers and the leaves have a culinary usage.

These drumstick leaves are full of all the good vitamins and iron and can be made this way or can be added into any dal for an interesting change. Also remember that these leaves are slightly bitter, pretty close to the taste of methi leaves.

Prep Time: 1o mins (excluding all the time for plucking out these lil leaves)
Ingredients

Drumstick leaves: a bowl full
Red pearl onions/Shallots: 5-6
Garlic: 1/2 pod
Ginger(chopped): 1 teaspoon
Coconut: 5-6 tablespoons
Mustard seeds: 1 teaspoon
Raw rice: 1 teaspoon
Urad dal: 1 teaspoon
Curryleaves: one sprig
Dried red chillies: 2-3
Oil to saute

Heat some oil in a pan. Splutter the mustard seeds, urad dal and the dried red chillies. Add the raw rice and curry leaves. Roughly crush the garlic pod, ginger and pearl onions using a mortar and pestle. Add this to the pan and nicely saute. Add a pinch of turmeric powder. Now add the drum stick leaves and saute well. Toss everything until it gets mixed well. Cover the pan for about 5 mins . The drumstick leaves turn color to a dark green. Add coconut and toss once again. Adjust the salt. The thoran is ready to be served with hot rice.