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My Food Story is a collection of stories and recipes that celebrate India’s traditional plant-based ingredients sourced from local biodiversity. You can see these recipes on our interactive dashboard (https://www.cseindia.org/page/myfoodstory).
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When I was a child, our home had a small patch of land where we grew vegetables as a hobby. Summers in our town often meant scarcity. Fresh vegetables were hard to find. During those times, we turned to an old family trick: planting Poi leaves (Malabar spinach).
There are many ways to cook Poi leaves: pakodas, curry, or as a side dish with Pakhala Bhaata, the traditional dish of Odisha. But the one closest to my heart is Poi Chadchaddi.
Even today, whenever I feel nostalgic, I prepare this dish. As the leaves cook and their fragrance fills the air, I am taken back to those sunlit days running barefoot in the garden, hearing my parents’ laughter, and reliving the joy of creating something simple and wholesome out of almost nothing.
Poi Chadchadi
Poi leaves - (2 cups chopped leaves, stems cut into thin slices)
French beans - 1/2 cup slices
Pumpkin - 1 cup slices
Potato - 1/4 cup slices
Sweet potato- 1/2 cup slices
Ridge gourd (turei) - 2 cups slices
Brinjal - 1 slice
Tomato - 1 chopped
Onion – 1 chopped
Ginger paste -1/2 tsp
Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Onion paste - 1 tbsp
Bodi - 4 (dry urad dal bodi) fried and crushed
Mustard oil - 4 tbsp
Salt (to taste)
Green chilli -2
Sugar-1 tsp
Panch fodan - 1 tsp
For mustard paste
Mustard seeds -1 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder-1 tsp
Water - 1/2 cup
To make Poi Chadchaddi, heat oil in a kadai and add panch fodan with green chillies. Once they splutter, add chopped onion and sauté until translucent. Stir in onion-garlic-ginger paste and cook until it turns light brown. Next, add all the vegetables along with tomato, poi stems, and leaves. Season with salt, turmeric, and a little sugar, then cover and cook on low heat, stirring occasionally.
When the vegetables are nearly done, mix in crushed badi and mustard paste, adding a splash of water if needed to help them cook evenly. Let it simmer, covered, until the vegetables are soft and the flavours are well blended. Serve hot with steamed rice for a wholesome, traditional meal.
Sushree Satapathy is a homemaker from Maharashtra