How to Make Gongura Stew With Split Green Gram Lentils

The leaves of Gongura plant (Hibiscus cannabinus), also known as Roselle, is used in many ways in Indian cooking. Here I have tried Gongura leaves with split Green gram lentils to make a tasteful stew.

There are two varieties of Gongura plant, Red and Green stemmed. The red stemmed ones are very sour in taste and got lots of fiber. We grow the green stemmed one in our home garden and harvest the fresh leaves as and when required.

Step 1: Harvest the Gongura Leaves

1. Harvest a handful of Gongura leaves. If you do not have the plant, you can buy it from the vegetable market.
2. Wash the leaves in water
3. Cut and remove the stems and chop the leaves in to pieces

Step 2: Ingredients Required

1. One cup of Split green gram Lentils
2. One large sized onion, chopped
3. Three to four pieces of Garlic cloves
4. Handful of curry leaves
5. Three to four Green chilies
6. Salt to taste
7. One Teaspoon of Masala Powder (Mixture of Red Chili powder, Turmeric and Coriander seeds)
8. One teaspoon of Cumin seed powder (No need to add if already mixed with Masala Powder)
9. About half a teaspoon of Asafoetida powder

For Tempering

1. A teaspoon of Mustard seeds mixed with split Black gram lentils
2. Handful of Curry leaves
3. One or two dried red chilies broken into pieces
4. A tablespoon of cooking oil

Step 3: Preparation

1. Wash the Green gram lentils in water and transfer to a Pressure cooker
2. Peel the Garlic cloves, lightly crush and add to the Cooker
3. Add all other ingredients including chopped Gongura leaves, other than ingredients required for tempering

Step 4: Pressure Cook

1. Add about one liter of water to the ingredients
2. Place the pressure cooker on the stove and pressure cook for about seven to eight minutes

Step 5: Transfer to a Bowl

1. Allow the pressure to come down to normal and then transfer the cooked stew to a serving bowl

Step 6: Temper the Stew

1. Heat a table spoon of cooking oil in a frying pan
2. Add mustard seeds mixed with split black gram lentils
3. When the mustard seeds start to crack, add the dried red chili pieces
4. Add the handful of curry leaves to the oil, wait till the curry leaves get fried lightly
5. Pour the hot oil with the ingredients over the cooked stew in the bowl

Our Gongura stew is ready. You can serve the tasteful stew with Rice, Chapati and also use it with Idli and Dosai.