All I had to do was harvest leaves and buds from my neighbour’s red shoe flower plant to cook a curry for lunch. No shopping or bargaining!
Thanks to E. Sajeev Kumar’s workshop, I was able to turn over a new leaf and cook locally-grown organic food for my family. And that is not all. If leaves of hibiscus have become a thoran , there is mezhukkupuratti made of the buds and pachadi and a dessert made of the flowers. I can also prepare pachadi and erusseri using the leaves of bitter gourd plant, while tender jackfruit leaves or tender banana leaves can be turned into a thoran . How about an omelette garnished with leaves of mukkutti?
All dishes are courtesy a cook book ( it is available only in Malayalam) compiled by Sajeev, which has recipes for cooking with different kinds of leaves. He turns leaves, many of which are considered inedible, into salads, curries and desserts.
A typical workshop that he conducts has him cooking lunch for participants. The participants pitch in to chop, cook and serve and then enjoy the feast.
At the end of a workshop organised by Sajeev at Santhigramam, Chappath, near Vizhinjam, there is rice, 11 sides and a payasam.
A lunch spread with dishes made using leaves
A leafy thoran has been made with leaves of shoe flower; pulinkari and potato curry have leaves of colocasia (chembu); kadala curry has generous portions of valli cheera or vashala cheera (Malabar spinach); a varutha erisseri and chammanthipodi have nilamuringa or vela; the payasam has been made with mukkutti.
Sajeev, a scientist with the K.R. Narayanan Centre for Biotechnology, Kottayam, believes that one must be in tune with nature to be healthy. Hailing from a family of Ayurveda physicians in Ponnani, Sajeev has been researching on medicinal properties of plants that are considered as weeds or discarded as inedible. “It is all about making food your medicine. I call it herbal dietetics. By incorporating these plants in our menu we can develop immunity against many ailments and lead a healthy life,” says Sajeev.
E. Sajeev Kumar
A post graduate in Botany and medicinal plants and a doctorate holder in ethnomedicine, Sajeev hit upon the idea when he helped a group of school students with a science project for their school science fair. Today he travels across Kerala taking classes.
“Leaves and plants have been part of our food chart for many decades now. Leaves are digested quickly when compared to pulses and seeds; they are rich in fibre that keep us healthy. We have to understand the medicinal value and nutrient content in these plants and make them a part of our daily menu. This is what I call Zero Expense Herbal Cooking,” says Sajeev.
It was by trial and error that he learnt to cook these dishes, he says.
“The preparation depends on phytochemicals present in a particular plant. In most cases the first step is to sauté the leaves in oil so that the phytochemicals get absorbed in it. But that doesn’t mean that you can prepare food using every other plant in your backyard. We have to be careful about the intake of certain plants. For instance, I use mashithandu (shining bush plant) to make salads. But lime juice is used instead of curd because using the latter could cause indigestion. The plant has analgesic properties and is an ingredient in many pain killers,” he says.
Sajeev tries to make dishes with whatever plants are available. “At one venue we had some potatoes and dal left. It was then that I noticed choriyanam (climbing nettle) plants growing all around the place. Although the leaves can cause severe itching, dipping them in water gets rid of that problem. So, I made a stew with the leaves, potato and dal,” he adds.
Sajeev claims to have prepared over 1,000 dishes using 250-plus varieties of leafy greens.
He has also started Ayur Yuva Institute of Innovation for Science and Heritage (AYIISH) in Kozhikode. “My aim is to take this cuisine across the globe so that we have a healthy society,” he says.
Sajeev will take a class on the subject at Santhigram, Chappath, on January 16. Contact: 9745333348 (Sajeev), 9249482511 (Santhigram).
