How to Cook Centella Asiatica (Asiatic Pennywort or Indian Pennywort)

Centella Asiatica, commonly called as Asiatic Pennywort or Indian Pennywort is one of the well known medicinal plant used in Ayurvedic medicines. This plant grows as a weed near water bodies & paddy fields and can be identified by the kidney-shaped leaves. This plant can also be grown at home and cooked as green vegetable. However, many people do not like its mild bitter taste.

This is one of my recipe to prepare a tasteful stew using Centella Asiatica leaves.

Step 1: Harvest and Chop the Leaves

• Harvest the leaves with its long stems as the stems also contain lots of nutrients
• The plant grows nearer to the ground, so wash and clean the harvested leaves in running water to remove soil particles sticking to them
• Chop the leaves into pieces

Step 2: Ingredients

Ingredients for pressure-cooking

• Take about 100 grams of Green gram split lentils (That is approximately half the quantity of chopped centella leaves) and soak them in water for about 15 minutes
• A medium sized onion finely chopped
• Few garlic cloves shucked & chopped
• Half a teaspoon of turmeric powder
• One teaspoon of cumin seed powder
• Lemon juice from one fruit Salt to taste

Ingredients for tempering

• One table spoon of cooking oil
• A teaspoon of mustard seeds mixed with split black gram lentils
• Two dried red chilies broken into pieces
• One medium sized onion, finely chopped

Step 3: Add Ingredients for Pressure-cooking

• Transfer the chopped Centella leaves to a pressure cooker
• Add all ingredients required for pressure-cooking, including the soaked green gram lentils
• Add salt and lemon juice

Step 4: Pressure Cook

• Now add little amount of water to the cooker and mix well
• Close the lid and pressure cook for about five minutes and remove from stove
• You can remove the lid once pressure drops to normal

Step 5: Tempering

• Heat a tablespoon of cooking oil in a frying pan
• When the oil is heated, add a teaspoon of mustard seeds mixed with split black gram lentils
• When the mustard seeds start to crack, add the red chili pieces
• Add the chopped onions and saute till raw smell of onion disappears

Step 6:

• Now transfer the mix from the pressure cooker to the ingredients in the frying pan
• Simmer over low flame till excess water evaporates
• Transfer the contents to a serving dish

Enjoy the Centella stew with rice, chapatis or bread