Moringa leaves dry powder/ Drumstick leaves/ Nugge soppu powder

Moringa/ Drumstick leaves known as Nugge soppu in Kannada is considered to be super food. It is power house of many nutrients. It is very effective in treating people with low hemoglobin content. If consumed in moderate level, it is going to work as wonder! When I state all these, I cannot just disagree that eating moringa leaves daily isn’t easy as it does not turn very soft on cooking and it has a slight bitter taste. So ideal is to eat in powdered form. It is easy to store it in air tight container after making dry powder which becomes handy and there is no hard core rule to use it as well. You can have it combined in any regular menu such as roti, rice, rasam or even can be taken by adding in water/ juice or making tea.

You can prepare it when there is availability of fresh leaves and use it for months. To be safe, store it in refrigerator. This powder can be prepared by drying leaves under sun or in a oven!

Refer my recipe Sweet potato Moringa paratha where this powder is used. Check for other Moringa recipes like Moringa & curryleaves rice, Moringa leaves chutney powder, Drumstick leaves tambuli, Moringamultigrain Spicy bread…

Normally I make this powder during end of summer and use it for 2-3 months. As drumstick trees fall off generally for the first rain in the summer, it is the time we get lot of leaves at home too!! So making best use of it by preparing moringa powder.

Ingredients:

Fresh drumstick leaves – 3-4 bunches, or as much available

Clean cotton cloth for drying

Method:

• Collect fresh moringa leaves. Remove hard stems and check for any bugs. Wash good leaves with clean water.
• Drain water completely. Spread on a clean cotton cloth. It helps to absorb extra water and speeds up drying time.
• Let the leaves to dry under sun for 1-2 days depending on the sunlight availability & the moisture content. Stop drying when the leaves turn crisp.
• Or if you cannot sun dry, then spread the washed leaves on cotton cloth and air dry for ½ day under a fan. Then preheat the oven in convection mode for 170-180 degrees, and dry for 2-3 minutes checking in between.  Monitoring is important in order to avoid charring of leaves.
• Take the dried & cooled leaves in a dry mixer jar and powder it fine.
• Transfer to an airtight container, store and use as and when required.

Notes:

• Add 1 tsp of above made powder while kneading chapathi dough to make your roti iron rich.
• You can also add a tsp of powder while preparing rasam/ sambhar or any palya (vegetable stirfry).
• You can make other herbal powders such as brahmi following this method.