Basella alba

Another plant that can get you growing your own food very quickly is the Basella spinach or Malabar spinach. Known as Pasalai Keerai in Tamil, it is a very tasty spinach indeed!

Native to the Indian subcontinent, Malabar spinach is a creeper with very big, viscous leaves and a soft stem. We know of two varieties – green and red. Both are rich in Vitamins A & C, iron and calcium. And the best part about this spinach is that it is perennial and will give you rich, nutritious, green leaves all year round!!

Growing Malabar Spinach

Simply break off a stem of 6-8 inches length, and put it diagonally (at 45 degrees) into the ground. All you need to do is make sure the soil is moist, and it will start growing. It loves to grow in full sunlight and hot and humid conditions.

Alternatively, in the season after the rains, around February-March, you can collect the seeds and plant them. Although if you already have a plant that’s growing, the seeds will sow themselves, thereby eliminating the need for manual propagation!

This is so easy to do! Just take that little step, and plant this fast growing vine in your backyard and it will give you delicious, succulent leaves in no time, seriously!

Cooking Malabar spinach

Our favourite way to treat the Malabar spinach is by frying it with some mustard seeds, garlic, onion, tomatoes, green chillies and turmeric to make a delicious poriyal.