When my friend brought this to me from the local farmers market last Sunday telling it as “Brahmi” I was a little confused. The Brahmi (ബ്രഹ്മി)–the herbal plant in Kerala I am familiar- used to look slightly different. Also during my Chennai days I used this leaves in the name vellarakkeerai (வெள்ளார கீரை). But when I searched over the net, I could see many places pointing brahmi as vellarakkeerai. Any way, even though it’s not the same brahmi I am familiar , Vellarakeerai is also looks to have all the benefits of brahmi . It is used to cure many diseases in Siddha and Ayurveda treatments. Keeping this as a regular part of the diet is believed to boost memory power naturally.
The recipe here is my custom preparation, of a quick chutney mix of vellara keerai and lentle, which will go well with Dosa or Idly. Kids going to love its taste for sure….
Ingredients
- Urud daal (Lentil) : 3 T sp.
- Grated Coconut : 3 Tbl sp.
- Green chilly : 5
- Tamarind : 1 Gooseberry size
- Brahmi : 1 cup.
- Oil : 3 T sp.
- Salt : To taste
Method
- Pour the 2 T sp. oil on a pan (kadai) and add the urud dal along with green chilli.
- Once the dal became golden color add the coconut and fry for about 3 minutes.
- Remove the fried mix from the pan and keep aside.
- Pour 1 T sp. oil and sauté the brahmi leaves until it shrunk (About 2 minutes).
- Grind the fried daal and coconut mix along with tamarind and salt .
- Once it ground to coarse, add the brahmi leaves , grind everything well. (Don’t add water).