Fruits & Veggies Monday/KALE MALLUM 🥬 🥦 🍄 🍅 🥕

Hello dear fruits and veggies friends!

I am delighted to be back in this great competition from @lenasveganliving today, hosted by @plantstoplanks. Thank you for this wonderful idea fruitsandveggiesmonday!

Today’s dish is very simple but its flavours are stunning and it’s by far the nicest kale dish I’ve eaten. The word ‘mallum’ (or mallung) simply means ‘mix’ in Sri Lanka where this popular dish tends to be served alongside curries and rice.

In Sri Lanka kids are made to eat mallum as it is believed to be very good for your eyesight. They are told that they will end up wearing glasses when they are older unless they eat mallum on a regular basis and it seems to do the trick.

I got this recipe from a dear friend and i think it’s a great idea and having fallen in love with this dish, I’m motivated to learn more about Sri Lankan cuisine.

And now in the garden to harvest kale and Mukunawenna (Alternanthera sessilis), My husband loves to grow exotic herbs.

Alternanthera sessilis is a plant known by several common names, including Ponnanganni, Ponnaganti aaku, Honnagone in Kannada Mukunuwenna, Sessile Joyweed and Dwarf Copper Leaf. It is used as vegetable especially in Sri Lanka and some Asian countries.

In traditional Asian medicine, Mukunu Wenna is used for urinary, kidney and eye diseases. For this purpose, the herb and the leaves of the plant are either prepared as tea or consumed directly. The active substances are phenolic acids, flavonoids, beta-carotene.

For this wonderful dish you need the following ingredients:

• 250 g curly kale
• 100 g Mukuna wenna (optional)
• 1 tsp black oder green mustard seeds
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 3 shallots
• 1 hot red chilli
  ½ tsp turmeric
• 45 g dessicated coconut
• 5 tbsp full fat coconut milk
• Salt, to taste
• 2 tbsp oil, for sauteéing
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Mukuna wenna

preparation

Wash kale, remove the tough stems and chop it up into small, equal size pieces.

Mukuna wenna also wash and pluck off the leaves, this can take a little longer

Mix the grated coconut and coconut milk and set aside.

Finely chop garlic, chilli and shallots onion.

Heat up frying oil on a medium heat, in a wok or frying pan. Add garlic and chilli. Roast the garlic until lightly browned. Remove chilli and garlic (not the oil) from the pan and set aside.

If the pan is too dry, add another splash of oil to warm it up. Add mustard seeds to the pan, when they start popping add shallots and turmeric. Stir-fry until shallots have softened.

Add chopped-up kale, mukunawenna and stir-fry it briefly until it loses some of its volume. Now stir in rehydrated coconut. Season with salt and return garlic and chilli back to the pan. Continue stir-frying until coconut loses its moisture and kale becomes tender.