Muranga Fathu Riha

We got our hands on some good old muranga faiy (moringa leaves). The easiest way to enjoy them would of course be to put them in an omelet, but we ended up making muranga fathu riha because we haven’t had that in such a long time.

There are probably a lot of ways of making muranga fathu curry. We drained the muranga leaves after boiling it, but a lot of people use the boiling water when making the curry. Some slice the muranga leaves after boiling, we did not, and also different people use different curry powders while we used a curry paste that we made from scratch.

Serves: 2-3

Making the curry paste

Ingredients:

• ½ cup grated coconut
• 2 ½ tbsp. coriander
• 2 ½ tbsp. cumin
• 1 tbsp. fennel
• 3 dried red chillies
• 1/2 onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• ½ inch piece of ginger
• 6 cardamom pods
• ½ inch piece of cinnamon
• 6 curry leaves
• ½ inch piece of raanbaa
• ½ tsp. black peppercorns
• ¼ tsp. turmeric powder
• 8 tbsp. water

Instructions:

1. Slice the onion; the slices need to be a bit wider.
2. Heat a pan and add all the curry paste ingredients except for the turmeric and water.
3. Keep the heat on low to medium and keep stirring until the coconut takes on a golden colour.
4. Add the turmeric, mix well and while stirring, cook for around another minute.
5. Remove the mixture from the pan and let it cool down a bit.
6. Grind the mixture to a smooth paste, we added 8 tbsp. of water while grinding.

Preparing the curry

Ingredients:

• 2 cups muranga faiy (just the leaves, no stems)
• 2/3 cup valhomas (sliced into small pieces)
• ½ onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3 curry leaves
• 3 inch piece of raanbaa
• 1 ½ cup thick coconut milk
• 1 tbsp. oil
• ¼ githeyo mirus (or to taste)
• ½ tsp. salt (or to taste)
• 2 cups water

Instructions:

1. Heat the water in a large pot and once it starts to boil, add the muranga faiy.
2. Cover and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.
3. Drain the muranga faiy and keep aside.
4. Slice the onion and garlic thinly.
5. Heat the oil and add onions, raanbaa, githeyo mirus and curry leaves. Cook until the onions soften and take on a golden brown colour, and then add in the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
6. Add the curry paste you prepared, along with the coconut milk. Stir to combine and then add the valhomas.
7. With the lid on, cook until the mixture bubbles, and then add the muranga faiy along with the salt.
8. On low heat and with the lid on, cook for another 3 to 4 minutes.