This is a healthy and nutritious leafy-green side dish that goes very well with rice meals. It is a very popular dish in India and Sri Lanka, where it’ll be included in lunches at least once a week. This leaf is rich in iron, fibre, calcium and vitamin C.

In Sri Lanka it is known as mukunuwenna (in Sinhalese) and ponnanganni (in Tamil). In India, regional names include, matikaduri (in Assamese), honnagone (in Kannada) and ponnaganti aaku (in Telugu).

This leaf can be found in most Asian markets in the fresh vegetables section. It is also easy to grow at home. You can use the seeds or the stem to plant in fresh soil.

For preparing the stir-fry, only take the top part of the leaf and stem up to 5-6cm. Damaged leaves as well as the harder part of the stem should be avoided.

Preparation and cooking time: 20 minutes

Diet: Dairy free, vegan, gluten free

Serving: serves 4

Ingredients

• 200 g cleaned, washed and chopped dwarf copperleaf
• 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
• ½  medium size onion, chopped
• 2tbsp oil
• 1 sprig curry leaf
• 2 dried red chillies (sliced in small pieces)
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• ½ tsp fennel seeds
• ¼ cup grated coconut

Instructions

Cleaning dwarf copperleaf:

1. Take out each stem from the bundle, and pluck the green leaves with stem up to 5-6 cm from the top. Any other good leaves in the same stem can also be plucked.
2. Rinse and strain the water.
3. Soak with some turmeric and salt for 5 minutes to remove pesticides and germs.
4. Rinse and strain the water.
5. Chop in small pieces.

Cooking:

1. In a pan, add 2tbsp oil and heat up, add mustard seeds and wait until you hear the cracking sound. Add fennel seeds, onion, garlic, curry leaves and sliced red chillies, and saute for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add cleaned and chopped dwarf copperleaf with salt, turmeric and grated coconut.
3. Mix well and stir occasionally for 2-3 minutes to prevent it from sticking to the pan.
4. Cook for 5-6 minutes.
5. You can add green chillies or crushed chillies or add more dried chilli slices to make it spicier.