Hello Moringa Minestrone Soup! Do you wonder how moringa leaves, also called murungai keerai, mulunggay, and kalamungay, found their way into my hearty Italian stew? The truth is I am always looking for new ways to incorporate beautiful, nutritious plants into my cuisine.
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🌿 Is moringa a superfood, herb, or tree?
Moringa oliefera, by its Latin name, is a fast-growing tree with attractive leaves and flowers. Every part of moringa trees has been used for centuries.
People in many parts of the world eat the young green seed pods as traditional food. Take a look at the photo above and you can see why they are called "drumsticks" in India!
Not only are the leaves delicious in minestrone soup, stews and curries, but even the flowers are edible.
Scientists in recent times have recognized moringa as an incredible superfood. You can find it popping up on Instagram and sold in powdered form in health food stores.
If you would like to learn more, here is a very interesting link to start with from UC Davis.
🌳 Moringa tree
Because moringa has such incredible attributes, it is sometimes referred to as the Tree of Life.
In my community garden and local neighborhood on Maui, I've seen plenty of trees that have been pruned back aggressively and rebounded.
The trunks that began once as graceful, willowy stalks now look like immovable elephant legs. That's a lot of unstoppable life!
📖 Moringa has many names
Speaking of the garden, once I asked one of the aunties there if she was aware of the amazing superfood moringa provided.
She laughed and said, "Well, if you mean, why do we add it to soup for our guys when they return ravenous from a morning's hard work, then yes."
Then she elaborated further on how she has been eating moringa since childhood. In her Hawaiian family, where it's called kalamungay, it's been highly valued for as long as she can remember.
While our Indian gardening friends call the leaves murungai keerai, most of the other members who have grown up eating moringa know it by the Filipino name malunggay.
🍵 Making moringa minestrone soup
You will be amazed at how simple it is to incorporate fresh moringa leaves in my nutritious bean and barley minestrone. It really is as straightforward as one-two-three.
- Wash and shake dry fresh moringa leaves on the branch.
- Pluck individual leaves from their stems.
- Toss the kalamungay leaves into the minestrone in the last ten minutes of cooking, along with broccoli. Just like broccoli florets, moringa leaves quickly soften and soak up all the marvelous flavors of a stew.
📋 Variations
- Barley - replace with one cup of cooked short-grain brown rice.
- Vine ripe tomatoes - swap one 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes.
- Olive oil - substitute vegetable oil or leave it out.
- Fresh corn - frozen corn.
- Kidney beans - other cooked red or pink beans are delicious.
- Broccoli - try tender fresh green beans.
- Vegetable broth - 6 cups water plus 3 vegetable bouillion cubes.
💭 FAQ
You can substitute fresh, sliced spinach leaves for moringa leaves. Your recipe won't have the special superfood properties of moringa, but the spinach will cook in a similar fashion to murungai keerai, and your dish will likely have a good flavor.
Yes, it blends beautifully in smoothies and has a mild flavor that pairs with sweet tropical fruits.
Yes, it's easy to make your own moringa superfood powder. Simply wash and dry moringa leaves until crisp. Powder the dry leaves in a spice mill or high-speed blender.
🍝 More Healthy Italian Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Moringa Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
Cook Barley
- ⅓ cup uncooked pearled barley
- 2 cups water
Prepare Vegetables
- 1 tsp. olive oil optional
- 1 cup celery diced
- 1 cup onion diced
- 1 cup carrots diced
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 2 cloves garlic sliced
Make Minestrone
- 6 cups well-seasoned vegetable broth
- 2 cups vine ripe tomatoes diced
- ½ cup corn fresh, from cob
- 1 ½ cups kidney beans cooked
- 1 cup white cabbage coarsely chopped
- 2 large sage leaves fresh
- 4 sprigs thyme fresh
- 3 small bay leaves dried
Finish with Moringa Leaves
- 2 cups moringa leaves fresh, stems removed or substitute chopped fresh spinach
- ½ cup broccoli florets
Instructions
Cook Barley
- Bring 2 cups water to a boil. Add ⅓ cup uncooked pearled barley, reduce heat, and cook for 35 minutes or until tender.
Prepare Vegetables
- While barley cooks, chop 1 cup celery, 1 cup carrots, and 1 cup onion Slice 2 cloves garlic.
- Heat 1 tsp. olive oil in a large soup pot. Add celery, onion, and carrot. Saute until the onion begins to soften and brown. Alternatively, pan-roast vegetables with a couple of tablespoons of water.
- Add ¼ tsp. salt and sliced garlic. Stir and cook for 2 minutes.
Make Minestrone
- Add to the sautéed vegetables in the soup pot: 6 cups well-seasoned vegetable broth, 2 cups vine ripe tomatoes, ½ cup corn , 1 ½ cups kidney beans, 1 cup white cabbage, 2 large sage leaves, 4 sprigs thyme, 3 small bay leaves and the cooked barley with its cooking water. Boil over low heat for 15 minutes.
Finish with Moringa Leaves
- Add 2 cups moringa leaves, or substitute chopped fresh spinach and cook another 10 minutes. Finally, add ½ cup broccoli and turn the heat off. Let soup sit on the burner for 5 minutes.
Serve
- Remove bay, sage leaves, and thyme sprigs from the soup. Serve with vegan parmesan if desired.
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