Saturday, October 13, 2012

Homely Drumstick !

Drumsticks – commonly used as a vegetable in South Asia are infact immature seed pods, which are rich in vitamin C. These are known as Mullakada in Telugu, Murungakai in Tamil and Sango in Konkani. The botanical name of the drumstick tree is Moringa oleifera.

Drumsticks cut into pieces

India is the largest producer of drumsticks, with an annual production of 1.1 to 1.3 million tonnes of tender fruits wherein the state of Andhra Pradesh, leads the production.

When compared with common foods, fresh moringa leaves are more nutricious sources of some of the essential nutrients *, as listed in the table below:


I love drumsticks especially when cooked in rasam (tangy tamarind soup with seasoning) and sambar (dal cooked with vegetables and seasoning) Drumstick curry also is made which has an unique taste.

Rasam (called Charu in Telugu)
Four NGOs: Trees for Life International, Church World Service, Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization, and Volunteer Partnerships for West Africa — have advocated moringa as "natural nutrition for the tropics."

One unique feature about this tree is that it delivers leaves and pods (however these are mostly termed as fruits) throughout the year, with minimum maintenance.

*Source: Wikepedia