Mohana has come up with over 60 versatile recipes that incorporate moringa in everyday meals that traverse everything from salads to pizzas, curries and soups. — ART CHEN/The Star
On a sunny Tuesday afternoon, 87-year-old Mohana Gill walks us through her fecund, capacious garden where blooms, shrubs, plants and trees are scattered throughout. Chief among her prized collection of greens is her numerous moringa trees. Yes, there are many of them – some smaller ones dotted near the boundary wall, an older tree waving capriciously in the breeze and a smattering of mid-sized ones hidden in her back garden.
In a couple of pots, a few moringa plants are sprouting upwards, their lives just beginning to take shape.
“We have moringa trees everywhere in our garden. My Filipino helpers eat moringa every day, I cook it very often for my children and grandchildren and we even feed it to our dogs and cats,” says the beautiful, elegant Mohana.
In many ways, Mohana’s love affair with moringa dates back to her childhood in Myanmar where she grew up surrounded by moringa trees, as is often the case in many Indian households.
“As far back as I can remember in our home in Myanmar, we had a lot of moringa trees and we used to use them. I grew up with my mother and grandmother telling me ‘Moringa is good for you’.
“And that was enough for us as children – if it’s good for you, it is fine. So my mother always used to put it in the parappu and dhal and sambar (all Indian lentil-based stews). And the Burmese would use it as a fresh ulam and we also used moringa to make Burmese-style soups,” she says.
Mohana has spent a lifetime cooking for and nourishing her family. She only started writing cookbooks at the ripe old age of 70 and has since published over 20 books like Fruitastic! and Vegemania! and netted various global accolades including numerous Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.
Mohana's garden is filled with moringa trees and she feeds the nutritious drumsticks, pods and leaves to her family nearly every day. — ART CHEN/The Star
In Malaysia, she is one of the most awarded cookbook authors to date.
When I last met her in early 2020, she was certain that her last book Flowerlicious was going to be her final cookbook. And yet when the Covid-19 pandemic came into being, she quickly realised she simply did not have the capacity to sit still.
It is how she ended up writing her latest cookbook Moringalicious, which features over 60 recipes that incorporate moringa in some form.
Writing the book
Mohana said the idea of writing a book on moringa occurred to her organically and evolved after she realised how the simple comfort ingredient that provided so much nutrition and sustenance when she was a child had somehow morphed into an international phenomenon.
“So I was thinking during the Covid-19 pandemic that maybe I need to do something. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and I thought ‘’Why not about moringa?’ Because we grew up with moringa but it’s only in the last 20 years that suddenly the West has woken up to the fact that the moringa is a miracle tree and it’s a tree of life.
“So when I looked at those things, I thought ‘Everybody is talking about moringa but we grew up with moringa.’ So for us, it was no big deal. But their way of looking at moringa was a little bit different from my way of looking at moringa. They looked at moringa for its nutritional benefit, mainly for health in the form of moringa powder.
“And when I was thinking about it, I thought, ‘What about the real moringa that we grow in our garden?’ So I started to think and gather all the information and then the more I experimented with moringa, the more I found how easy it was to incorporate into our daily life,” she says.
What is moringa?
According to Mohana in her book, the moringa tree traces its roots to the foothills of the Himalayas in India where it has had a presence for well over 4,000 years. In India, the tree has long been believed to have healing properties and is said to alleviate over 300 different ailments. In fact, the Mauryan warriors in India, who were prevalent during the Mauryan Empire in the Iron Age were said to consume moringa to boost their strength during wars.
The moringa tree grows in many tropical and sub-tropical countries including India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Philippines, north-eastern Africa and Latin America. There are said to be 13 species of moringa.
In Indian communities, moringa is often referred to as ‘murung-gaka’ or the drumstick tree. Around the world, it is also known as horseradish tree, radish tree, benzolive tree, arango and badumbo, among many others.
Every part of the moringa tree can be utilised and eaten, from the leaves to the flowers, drumsticks and pods. — ART CHEN/The Star
Of late, the moringa tree has been gaining traction around the world as a superfood. Part of this increasing allure has to do with the tree’s amazing resistance to climate change and part of it has to do with its many nutritional benefits.
On the climate front, the moringa tree is drought-resistant and can survive on very little water. It is also fast-growing and has a high yield and will likely be one of the species of trees that will survive the travails of climate change. In fact, according to an article in Science Direct, the tree can withstand temperatures of up to 48°C in the shade and can even survive a light frost!
Most interestingly, every part of the tree from the roots, flowers, leaves, fruits and pods (each drumstick/fruit contains little seeds called pods) can be eaten, although it is the leaves that are the best for you.
From a nutritional perspective, moringa leaves are said to be one of the most nutrient-rich greens on the planet, according to an article in Good Housekeeping. The leaves are packed with protein, amino acids, 27 vitamins and 46 antioxidants. Key nutrients in the leaves include Vitamin C, Vitamin B, calcium and iron.
Moringa also contains anti-inflammatory properties and is purported to boost energy levels.
The cookbook
Moringalicious is Mohana’s tribute to the evergreen favourite of her childhood, but cleverly in her cookbook, she has incorporated both traditional Indian dishes as well as more international recipe that utilise moringa in some way or other in homage to global audiences that are only now discovering moringa.
The cookbook trawls through more familiar Indian favourites like crab curry with moringa (pictured here) as well as more experimental fare like Japanese miso soup with moringa. — MORINGALICIOUS
Throughout the book, you will find recipes as diverse as moringa flower fritters, moringa leaves in coconut milk, moringa tempura, moringa miso soup, moringa rainbow salad, moringa ice-cream and even the hugely ingenious moringa nasi lemak.
The recipes are very diverse but of course share a similar running theme in that all feature moringa in some way. In her recipes, Mohana uses predominantly moringa leaves, drumsticks and flowers – all the easiest to access for home cooks.
“So virtually anything you want to cook, you can introduce moringa leaves and moringa flowers and of course drumsticks have a different taste altogether. So we make drumsticks with our dhal and we make drumsticks with fish curry. That is what made me think about doing this book, because I thought ‘It is so easily available, it doesn’t cost anything (if grown at home) and even the cooking part is very, very easy,’” she says.
Mohana says while moringa has many health benefits, people don’t have to go overboard eating it (this is largely also because overconsumption can cause diarrhea). So she advocates incorporating a little bit in daily meals or even just having it in a single dish when sharing communal-style meals.
Recipes like her moringa nasi lemak for instance simply call for moringa leaves to be pureed alongside coconut milk when making the rice for nasi lemak. It’s a simple addition but it adds a lovely, almost herbaceous quality to the rice that gives it an elevated taste.
“I was thinking that everybody eats nasi lemak in Malaysia, so if somebody thinks ‘Oh, we can do a nasi lemak with a little bit of a difference with moringa’, it could be the talk of the town!” she says.
Mohana has tried to make moringa more accessible by introducing recipes like moringa flower fritters. Where fresh moringa is not available, she says moringa powder can be used instead. — MORINGALICIOUS
Ultimately, Mohana says her whole idea is for people to incorporate the cost-efficient moringa leaves, flowers or fruits into their daily meals in a very holistic way without going overboard or having to do anything too crazy.
“I think it is an awareness for people to say ‘Hey, whatever I am cooking, I can put in a little bit of moringa in it and it will become a little bit more nutritious. For example, in the book I make a moringa pesto as a dip. So instead of the usual hummus dip, we just add a bit of moringa leaves – it is as simple as that!” she says.
Moving forward
Interestingly, although there has been a lot of research about moringa and its health benefits, no one ever thought to come up with a cookbook devoted to the subject. Until Mohana, that is.
Which is why even though the book hasn’t even been officially launched yet, it has already been nominated in three categories at the upcoming Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, something that Mohana is naturally elated about.
“I think this book is Malaysia’s gift to the world. It has been nominated in three categories – innovation, nature and single subject, so I think it is a good ending to my career,” she says.
Ultimately though, Mohana says her hope is that the book and the traction it might get will encourage more people – from local authorities to everyday people – to plant moringa trees and reap the benefits of this fast-growing, nutritious tree in their own backyards.
“I am trying to say in this part of the world – grow moringa. Not because I am very clever, but I feel that we can use it, so why not? So in the book, I also talk a little bit about encouraging people to try and grow their own moringa trees. It is the easiest tree to grow, it doesn’t need any extra fertilisation, you just put the seed in and it will grow,” she says.
And at 87, is Mohana herself done with her long, illustrious career in the cookbook world? Over lunch, she mentions again that she doesn’t know if she can simply remain idle so she might just start conducting cooking classes to show people how to cook with moringa.
But is another cookbook in the works? That one she is leaving up to God.
“If I sit still, I am going to die lah. And since I am going to die anyway, I feel like I might as well fill my time with things that make me happy – that is most important.
“So is this my last cookbook? I don’t know. He (God) knows, but for me, this is the book that makes me very content and very satisfied,” she says.
Moringalicious will launch in Malaysia on 4 November 2023 and will be priced at RM99.90. Copies of the book can be obtained from Mohana via mohanagill@gmail.com.
