Every week, I make it a point to incorporate green leafy vegetables into my diet. And there is no dearth for variety – either in terms of produce available or the types of dishes one can make with them. Like me, if you want to follow the path of a healthier lifestyle, I strongly recommend that you start exploring the world of edible leafy greens.
Raw or Cooked Leafy Greens?
Growing up, I recall most of the leafy greens subjected to torture by fire. I mean, over-cooked. The poor spinach in the North Indian dish called Palak Paneer was cooked and mushed beyond recognition. Though delicious, the dish is totally bereft of the nutrition that spinach offers.
As Venu and I started experimenting in our own kitchens, we discovered that these delicate greens can be added at the very end of a dish, without loss of flavor, while retaining the nutrition. I also discovered the joys of eating fresh salads with tons of leafy greens. Check out some of my salads at the bottom of this blog post. It is super easy to add greens to omelets, pizzas, burgers and soups as well. Like I already mentioned, the options are numerous. The variety is mind-boggling.
Methi (Fenugreek Leaves) Dal
One of my top choices of leafy greens is fenugreek leaves. For one, they are available in grocery stores year round. For another, they are easy to grow in your backyard. They grow year round, and can be sown either inground or in small pots. You can harvest fenugreek leaves every few weeks.
Growing Methi: If you wish to try growing fenugreek at home, buy seeds from your local grocery store. Immerse them in water for about 30 minutes to soften their hard shell. Prepare a bed with a good mixture of compost and potting soil. Sprinkle the seeds and cover them with 1/4 inch of soil. Water gently as an when the soil dries up. Harvest when the plants are 5-7″ tall, before they put out blooms. You can keep sowing every 3 weeks for a continuous harvest.
Store-bought methi has hardened stalks, so it can be a bit of a royal pain to separate the leaves. Home grown methi, on the other hand, is a total pleasure. You can snip the leaves and cook the tender stalks too. Roughly chop the leaves if you are using the tender stalks.
I have used the quick-to-cook orange masoor dal for this recipe. You can use a combination of lentils: toor dal, mung dal and masoor dal in equal quantities. Garlic and ginger take this recipe to the next level. I love tomatoes to balance out the slightly bitter flavor of the fenugreek leaves; leave it out if you wish.
Methi Leaves Recipes:
If you love methi (fenugreek), you may want to try some of our favorites:
- Wholesome Methi Paratha
- Bottle Gourd & Fenugreek Curry
- Fresh Fenugreek Eggplant Sauté
- Tomato Fenugreek Dal
- Bhindi Okra Masala
Leafy Greens/Herbs Recipes:
As you can see from the list below, we LOVE leafy greens. I present several Indian and International recipes that incorporate a wide variety of greens.
- Harvest Salad with Spinach-Apple-Pomegranate
- Healthy Mung-Radish Greens Dal
- Aloo Palak
- Tabbouleh (Parsley Salad)
- Doddapatre Tambuli (Karpooravalli Thayir Pachadi)
- Hearty Sarson Pancharatna Dal
- Superfood Moringa Leaf Chutney
- Flavorful Cilantro-Mint Chutney
- Yard-to-Table Beet Leaf Thoran
- Fresh Vegetarian Italian Basil Pesto
- Kala Chana & Spinach Curry
- Kale-Pear-Turnip-Goat Cheese Salad
- Beets (Root & Greens) Palya
- Rainbow Chard-Red Lentil Stew
- Colorfully Crunchy Strawberry-Grape-Kale Salad
- Malabar Spinach Chutney
Methi (Fenugreek) leaves are nutrition packed. This heart-healthy herb is loaded with C, A, B2 vitamins and minerals like copper, iron and magnesium. According to Ayurveda, these leaves produce heat in the body that helps to stabilize body temperature in the wintertime.
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Methi (Fenugreek Leaves) Dal
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Red Lentils - Masoor Dal
- 4 Cups Fenugreek leaves - Destemmed, packed
- 1 Teaspoon Coconut Oil - Or Avocado oil
- 1/2 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- 1/2 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 1 Teaspoon Ginger - Freshly grated or minced
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic - Freshly minced
- 2 Teaspoon Green Chili Pepper - Minced. Vary to taste
- 1/2 Cup Tomato - Diced
- 1/2 Teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt - Or to taste
- 1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Lime Juice - or Lemon juice
Instructions
- Wash and rinse masoor dal until the water runs clear. Soak masoor dal in water for 30 minutes (skip the soaking if you are in a time crunch).
- Add 2 cups water and cook the dal on the stovetop or in a pressure cooker, until the dal is soft. Keep skimming the top froth and discard.
- Separate the methi (fenugreek) leaves from their stems. Compost the hard stalks.
- Rinse the fenugreek leaves thoroughly under running water.
- In a thick-bottom pan, heat oil. Splutter mustard and cumin seeds.
- Add grated ginger, minced garlic and green chili pepper and sauté for a minute, or until fragrant.
- Add chopped tomatoes, salt and turmeric powder. Sauté for 2 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft.
- Add cooked masoor dal and give everything a good stir. Add fenugreek (methi) leaves, turn off the heat.
- Cover the pan and allow the leaves to wilt in the heat.
- Before serving, add lemon or lime juice, stir well and serve.
Sounds good , I like it that you don’t cook the methi much %!
Glad you approve. We don’t like losing the high nutrients from over-cooking greens either!