Drumstick soup with dal and simple ingredients available at home. A healthy soup made with drumstick, moong dal for thickness, spices like cinnamon, clove, stone flower. A comforting bowl on its own you can prepare easily with pressure cooker method, perfect for beginners to try, with step by step pictures and quick video.
Make this when you want something flavorful, during cold, rainy days or when you want to use up drumstick quicky in season for a healthy meal.
Check out my Vazhaithandu soup and my Murungakkai poricha kuzhambu recipe in this website.
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About Drumstick Soup
Drumstick soup is a warm, aromatic South Indian style soup, made with moong dal for thickening and other ingredients for something flavourful. I always love how Chettinad cooking layers whole spices to build flavor without making dish heavy. Drumstick is a regular in my kitchen, but I usually add it to sambar, Poricha kuzhambu (my most favorite) or vatha kuzhambu. Long time I wanted to try poriyal but I buy only 2-3 and finish off. I also find the one we get in Chennai is soft and fresh but here, when I buy and keep, it is not that fresh. So make only gravy with it.
Soup and Rasam sounded really tempting as I keep seeing in short videos and reels. So finally tried in this way. I love fennel, stoneflower flavour a lot. I wanted to use it, though I have not seen stoneflower in most of the traditional drumstick soup recipe, in Chettinad simple clear soups, I see they use fennel seeds, Cinnamon and clove vastly, along with moong dal. Only thing I blended the soup as I like it that way. It may not be authentic Chettinad soup, but I assure it’s a hearty, warm and Best Drumstick Soup Recipe.
Why you will love this?
- Easy pressure cooker version
- Whole spices gives soup its depth
- Dal naturally thickens the soup
- Beginner friendly, one pot, minimal cleanup
Drumstick Soup Ingredients
Here are the ingredients needed to make Murungakkai Soup.
- Drumstick – Murungakkai – Use fresh stock for maximum fresh
- Moong dal – Pasi paruppu – Mung yellow lentils – For thickening, taste, flavor, nutrition.
- Onion – Builts aroma base
- Tomato – Adds mild tang and colour
- Ginger – Helps with flavour and digestion
- Garlic – For flavour
- Turmeric powder – For color and its antiseptic quality
- Curry leaves – Adds classic South Indian aroma
- Black pepper – Brings heat, warmth
- Cumin seeds – For digestion
- Fennel seeds – adds a sweet flavour
- Cinnamon, Clove – Adds warmth
- Biryani leaf – Mild aroma
- Stone flower – Kalpasi – Adds a smoky flavor
- Coriander leaves – Cilantro – adds freshness
- Oil or ghee for tempering
- Salt
See recipe card below for quantities.
Step by step images
Let’s see how to make drumstick soup.
- In a pressure cooker, firstly add 2 teaspoon oil, temper with 1 biryani leaf, 1 inch cinnamon, 1-2 stone flower, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, fennel seeds, curry leaves.
- After that, add 10 garlic cloves of small variety, 1 inch ginger, finely chopped.
- After that, add 1 cubed onion and tomato.
- Saute for a minute.
- Add ¼ cup moong dal, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, salt as needed, ½ teaspoon whole Black pepper.
- Then add 2 cups of water & stir well.
- Pressure cook for 3 whistles.
- Once pressure is released naturally, take out the biryani leaf, cinnamon, stone flower. Otherwise it will be bitter and strong in the soup after blending.
- Using a stick blender, briefly blend the soup. Be quick and do only a few times, enough to blend the dal. Otherwise the drumstick fiber can get stuck in the blender blade.
- Adjust water (1 – 1.5 cups) and blend for easily grinding the dal.
- Moong dal gets cooked easily and blends smoothly which gives the creamy thick consistency.
- Pour over a metal strainer, placed over a large boiling sauce pan.
- Squeeze the pulp out, use a silicone spatula or big ladle.
- Add ¼ -½ cup water to extract all the pulp.
- Return to stove and heat gently until it comes to a boil. Adjust salt if needed.
- Switch off and garnish with coriander leaves and black pepper powder as needed.
Serve this simple Drumstick soup hot / warm for a comforting sip. It’s so flavorful and tasty, yet nutritious.
Substitutions & Variations
Whole spices – If you do not like any flavor of a specific ingredient or no stock, you can skip it.
Moong dal – Make a clear soup without dal and grinding the soup.
Coconut milk – Add 2 -3 tablespoons of thick store bought or homemade coconut milk for a great taste as well as it is good for your tummy.
Rasam version – Use the same soup as rasam, skip the masala flavors and make a lighter version without grinding. Give a red chilli, mustard, jeera tadka.
Drumstick moringa soup recipe – You can add ¼ cup of drumstick leaves in this soup and cook drumsticks along, to make it more nutritious & flavourful.
Storage
Cool completely and refrigerate in an airtight container, you can use it up for 2 days. Reheat gently on the stovetop, avoid boiling vigorously.
Top Tip
Do not grind the soup too much as the fibre in Drumstick can make your blender blade stick with it. Just a brief blend will bring out the pulp completely.
Do not forget fish out whole spices before blending biryani leaf, Cinnamon, clove, stone flower. Otherwise it will turn bitter and have a strong flavor in the soup.
My notes
I want to try using pearl onions next time, as I love using small onions in such South Indian Recipes.
FAQ
Yes, the combination of black pepper and warm spices along with turmeric, dal, moringa gives you great comfort.
How do you make Easy Drumstick soup?
Temper aromatics in oil, saute onion, tomato, curry leaves, drumstick, garlic until soft. Pressure cook dal, drumstick and all the ingredients together in a pressure cooker. Give it a blend using stick blender. Strain and heat for a quick and easy drumstick soup under 30 minutes.
Is drumstick soup good for you?
Yes, drumstick soup is good and highly nutritious for you. Rich in vitamin C, iron and ingredients that adds warmth, it is a great remedy for cold too. Since this recipe uses no cream, it stays low in fat too.
Are drumsticks good for making soup?
Yes. Drumstick pulp softens easily when cooked and naturally thickens the soup without cream or cornflour, which is why it’s good for making soup and rasam.
What are the benefits of Drumstick soup?
- Rich in Vitamin C – supports immunity, useful during cold, flu season
- Good source of iron – particularly helps with energy levels, anyone managing low haemoglobin
- Low in fat – This recipe uses no cream, making it light on the stomach
- Warming spices – Fennel seeds, black pepper, turmeric easy sore throat and cold symptoms
- Easy on digestion – Moong dal and mild spicing makes it gentle enough for kids and adults.
Pairing Suggestions
Serve as a starter before a South Indian meal or pair it with any toasted bread for a light dinner.
Recipe card
Drumstick Soup Recipe | Healthy Murungakkai Soup
Drumstick soup with dal and simple ingredients available at home. A healthy soup made with drumstick, moong dal for thickness, spices like cinnamon, clove, stone flower.
Equipments (Amazon Affiliate links)
Ingredients
- 4 Drumstick
- ¼ cup Moong dal
- 1 Onion Cubed
- 1 Tomato cubed
- 1 inch GInger Chopped
- 10 Garlic cloves
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper
- Coriander leaves to Garnish
- 5 cups Water
- Salt as needed
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper powder To serve
To temper
- 1 Biryani leaf
- 1 inch Cinnamon
- 1 Clove
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon Fennel seeds
- 1 Stone flower
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
Instructions
-
In a pressure cooker, firstly add 2 teaspoon oil, temper with 1 biryani leaf, 1 inch cinnamon, 1-2 stone flower, 1 clove, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, fennel seeds, curry leaves.
-
After that, add 10 cloves of small variety garlic, 1 inch ginger, finely chopped.
-
After that, add 1 cubed onion and tomato.
-
Saute for a minute.
-
Add ¼ cup moong dal, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, salt as needed, ½ teaspoon whole Black pepper.
-
Then add 2 cups water & mix well.
-
Pressure cook for 3 whistles.
-
Once pressure is released naturally, take out the biryani leaf, cinnamon, stone flower. Otherwise it will be bitter and strong in the soup after blending.
-
Using a stick blender, briefly blend the soup. Be quick and do only a few times, enough to blend the dal. Otherwise the drumstick fiber can get stuck in the blender blade.
-
Adjust water (1 – 1.5 cups) and blend for easily grinding the dal.
-
Moong dal gets cooked easily and blends smoothly which gives the creamy thick consistency.
-
Pour over a metal strainer, placed over a large boiling sauce pan.
-
Squeeze the pulp out, use a silicone spatula or big ladle.
-
Add ¼ -½ cup water to extract all the pulp.
-
Return to stove and heat gently until it comes to a boil. Adjust salt if needed.
-
Switch off and garnish with coriander leaves and black pepper powder as needed.
Video
Notes
- Do not forget fish out whole spices before blending biryani leaf, Cinnamon, clove, stone flower. Otherwise it will turn bitter and have a strong flavor in the soup.
