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When my body craves for greens for lunch, I just take a walk in my garden with a basket in my hand. It is very rewarding, when you look for edible plants that are growing free loose in the wild as curiosity roars when you snip them at your fingers. There is a moment of serendipity and mindfulness in finding a medicinal plant here and there. It only takes the practice of some family wisdom and the repetition of a much cherished ritual such as the herb-hunting I did with my mother in her garden, in the wilderness walking alongside her and even making our discoveries in rarely chartered pathways in the neighbourhood.

As a frequent traveller, whenever I am in Sri Lanka and seek some soulful rest at Replenish, the Mixed Herbs Salad or the ‘Kalawam Palaa Malluma’ as known in the Sinhala language, becomes the ideal practice to dip all my senses in the nature around with appreciation. As there are no fixed ingredients to this recipe, I just go pick greens per availability; just enough to feed me and leaving behind a sporadic trail leaving enough for nature to sustain itself.

So, all I do is look around, snip-nib greens, wash them thoroughly and cook the Malluma! Well, just one stirring-minute on fire, just enough to infuse all the medicinal goodness and peculiar earthy flavours.

Ingredients you’ll need:

1. Four to five wild herbs per availability.

I would suggest some of the common varities (such as Mukunuwenna , Kuppameniya , Wel Penela, Gotukola, Polpalaa , Passion fruit and Monara Kudumbiya) you find in your garden. You’ll only need little amount of each as it is a mixed herbs dish.

2. Some grated fresh coconut
3. One green-chili finely chopped
4. One medium-sized red-onion finely chopped
5. Pinch of salt as per your taste
6. Lemon juice (it is healthy to add after cooking, which is however optional)

Method:

1. Wash the leaves and keep them aside for few minutes to drain.
2. Chop the leaves finely.
3. Put the leaves in a pan and add all the ingredients listed under number 2, 3 ,4 and 5.
4. Turn-on the stove to medium heat (ideally on open flame).
5. Stir with a wooden spoon while cooking.
6. Turn-off the stove after one minute to retain the intensity and shades of green.
7. Add a sprinkle of lemon juice (again optional).
8. Take the pan off the stove and serve as soon as possible. If you leave it in the pan for cooling, you may loose its colour and as well as the taste that too may go awry. This also means a loss of the nutritious and medicinal goodness.
9. Serve the Kalawam Palaa Malluma ideally with wild/red rice and complimentary curries.

I hope you’ll enjoy the infusion of myriad flavours and the sudden boost of energy that follows while replenishing your soul.

With replenishing greetings,

Anna