Neem Narkel Bhaja | Crispy Neem with Coconut
If the post title has not made you shudder and click away, then consider yourself smothered in a hug from me! I understand that sometimes it takes courage to even read about certain food items, let alone trying them or eating them. Mention squid or muskmelon and I want to run away. And there are several who follow suit when it comes to the idea of eating bitter neem leaves.
But ‘bitter’ has been part of our daily meals since forever now. As is the case with meals from all regions of India, the Bengali meal too is balanced to satiate the six basic tastes. This, in turn, covers a variety of food that makes a wholesome balanced diet.
Leaves of a neem tree or Indian lilac are renowned for their medicinal properties. Type in the word ‘neem’ in a search engine, hit enter and you’ll have enough material to write a thesis on the humble leaf!
It is this medicinal property that inspires my mother to chomp on these leaves early in the morning. “I just tear a few leaves from the trees on the road, wipe them clean and fold them into my mouth,” she is heard mentioning almost every time she is cooking neem leaves – simply because that is the only way I will eat those leaves.
The bitter taste is a characteristic of any dish with neem leaves which, in all honesty, is an acquired taste. There are ways of eating this dish – some prefer to mix lightly stir-fried neem leaves with salted mashed potatoes and then eat it with rice. Some like to add some fried brinjal while most others prefer to run away from it altogether.
A few words of caution – I eat this more for the medicinal and nutritional value. You’ll often see me starting my meal with a neem preparation mixed with some steamed rice in a separate bowl or plate. I dislike when the bitter taste mixes with other food tastes.
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