Honagone soppu Bassaru Palya Recipe

Honagone soppu bassaru palya or stir fry or usli with step by step recipe. This is a two in one recipe in which we make both rasam and stir fry.

Karnataka style Honagone soppu Bassaru Palya Recipe – Green gram toor dal and Sessile Joyweed stir fry

It’s a delicious dish which uses three main ingredients that is honagone soppu, green gram or hesaru kalu and toor dal or togaribele.

Honagone soppu is scientifically called as Sessile Joyweed. These are basically aquatic plants and has a bunch of medicinal values. It’s called Koypa in Marathi, honagone in Kannada, Ponnaganti koora in Telugu and Ponnanganni Keerai in Tamil.

Ponnangani rasam or Alternanthera sessilis rasam are the other names given to this dish.

This bassaru and palya makes a great combination with ragi mudde and rice.

If you are looking for more Karnataka recipes, check these

Honagone soppu masala vada

Fresh turmeric flavored buttermilk 

Check a quick video of how to make Karnataka style bassaru palya and try this in your kitchen. If you have enjoyed the video do subscribe to Dice n Cook Youtube channel for more food videos.   

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Health benefits

This plant has many health benefits and culinary uses. This plant leaf is mostly used as vegetables in many regions of South of India. Tender leaves are used in cooking gravies, salads, side dishes like sambar and stir fry.

However, on a caution note, I would suggest buying these greens from a reliable source as I have read that these are also confused with other poisonous weed which are similar looking to honagone soppu.

Green gram, hesaru kalu, mung, moong, whole green gram, wholesome food rich in protein, fiber, antioxidants and low in fat. It is also excellent source of iron, zinc and vitamins. It can be used in making delicious dishes like salad, dosa, idli, sundal, fritters, dal, khichdi.

Toor dal or split pigeon peas are common legumes used in Indian cooking. These lentils are store house of proteins, carbohydrates and fibre. It also helps us with folic acid required by our body.

What is bassaru and palya?

Bassaru and palya is the name from Kannada language. Bassaru is the name given to saru made with drained stock from cooked greens, dal and green gram. Hence this dish gets the name bassaru. The cooked greens mixture is used to make palya, usli or stir fry.

Each family has its own way of making bassaru. The masala used in different regions are based on taste preferences. Various types of fresh greens like honagone soppu, dill leaves, amaranth leaves, palak, drumstick leaves can be used to make bassaru.

Mostly used dal in bassaru is toor dal along with green gram. South Indians also make horsegram bassaru which is both tasty and healthy.

Why will you make Honagone soppu bassaru palya ?

This recipe is

Karnataka style recipe

Simple and healthy recipe

Flavourful side dish

Vegetarian recipe

Plant based diet

Rasam recipe

Protein packed dish

Vegan side dish

Glutenfree diet

Equipment

Vessel

Colander

Cooking vessel

Pressure cooker

Frying pan

Mixer grinder

Ingredient notes

The key ingredients are

Honagone soppu: These are rainy season produce and available in most of the South Indian vegetable shops during the season. These greens are procured from reliable local vendor. I have used tender leaves separated from the twig. Clean and wash the leaves before use.

Green gram: whole green gram or hesarukalu or mung is used in this bassaru recipe. Use clean pestfree whole green gram. We cannot use them directly to pressure cook, so we must soak it overnight in water.

Toor Dal: Togaribele or split pigeon peas is used in this recipe. I have used clean pest free toor dal to make bassaru.

For flavours – Cinnamon, garlic pods, ginger along with onion and tomato is used in bassaru masala.

For seasoning – mustard seeds, cumin and curry leaves are used in tempering.

Coconut oil – I use coconut oil in most of my dishes. In this recipe also I have used the same.  

Water is added for cooking the green-dal mixture and for adjusting the consistency of bassaru. Salt, tamarind paste, jaggery powder is added as per taste preferences.

How to clean and chop Honagone soppu?

Greens should be cleaned well before cooking them. Honagone soppu is usually available as large twigs, we use only tender leaves from these.

So, before we wash the greens, remove, gather all tender leaves and throw away the stem. Wash them well and chop them fine. Use them for cooking bassaru.

To chop the honagne soppu you can use a high-speed electric chopper. Use a knife to chop them fine and cook them further.

How to cook honagone soppu with lentils?

Honagone soppu can be cooked with lentils in two ways.

Open vessel method: In this method clean and chop the leaves, clean green gram and toor dal. Add all these into boiling water. Cook them together in a thick bottomed vessel.

After some time, if you feel water has evaporated in the cooking vessel, add some more to cook further. This method requires more time compared to other method.

Pressure cooker method: Here we cook all the key ingredients in a small pressure cooker with sufficient water to cook them. Pressure cook for 2 or 3 whistles or until the dal becomes soft. Number of whistles depend on the flame at which you are heating the pressure cooker.

You can use any method to cook greens and lentils. But make sure to cook both together.

How to make honagone soppu bassaru and palya?

You will find full recipe instructions and measurements in recipe card at the bottom of this page. This is the general summary of the process with step by step photos.

• Preparations before we make Bassaru:

Soak green gram overnight in water before using it in this recipe. Toor dal is soaked in water for 30 minutes before pressure cooking it.

Clean the honagone soppu, separate the tender leaves from the stems and clean wash them and keep this aside. As the leaves are small and tender, wash them just before cooking otherwise they tend to smell rotten.

• Cooking the greens and lentil:

Greens and lentil are cooked by pressure cooking method. Overnight soaked green gram and toor dal soaked for 30 minutes is pressure cooked for 3 whistles.

I have cooked the greens, green gram and toor dal with sufficient water. Release the pressure naturally and remove the lid.

• Sieving the cooked mixture:

After pressure cooking, take a sieve or colander and a vessel which is slightly larger than colander, so that we do not spill the stock. Place the colander on vessel and pour the cooked mixture into the colander.

The stock or basida neeru (in Kannada) gets collected in the vessel. Allow it to sieve for 15 to 20 minutes, so that you can collect the complete stock.

Keep this stock and drained mixture aside until we cook further.

• Preparation of bassaru masala:

Let’s make the bassaru masala. To make the masala we must fry the spices and grind into fine paste.

Let’s begin by heating a pan, add oil, cinnamon pieces, finely chopped onion, garlic pods, ginger pieces, tomato pieces, red chilies as per taste. Fry well until the rawness vanishes.

Cool this mixture, add little cooked greens and dal mixture to this.

Here we add little cooked dal mixture, this helps to thicken the bassaru and also gives added aroma.

Make a fine paste of fried masala mixture and use this in preparing bassaru.

• Making Honagone soppu bassaru

Heat a cooking vessel, add the stock, and begin to boil. Add the ground masala, turmeric powder, jaggery powder, tamarind paste and salt as per taste preference.

Adjust tamarind paste as per tanginess of tomato used in masala.

Rasam starts to thicken as we cook. Keep stirring to prevent any burning at the bottom.

Add water to get required consistency.

• Tempering the bassaru

Heat coconut oil, saute mustard seeds, cumin seeds with curry leaves. Fry curry leaves until they are crisp.

Pour this into cooked honagone soppu hesarukalu bassaru.

Lets make the palya from drained greens lentil mixture.

• Making palya or stir fry or usli

After sieving and removing the stock, we will use green mixture in making palya or usli.

Heat a pan, add oil and saute mustard seeds, next add finely chopped onion, green chilies and garlic pods.

Fry well until raw smell vanishes.

Add drained greens mixture to the fried spices, add tamarind paste and salt as per taste. Mix well and cook for few minutes until everything combines well.

Continuously stir well to prevent the palya from sticking to bottom.

Honagone soppu green gram palya is ready to be served

Serving Suggestions:

This recipe is two in one, we get both main dish and side dish. So makes a great lunch or dinner meal. Serve this delicious flavorful dish with ragi mudde (Karnataka based ragi balls).

This rasam can be served with hot rice and ghee. Stir fry or palya can be served as side dish for roti, chapati or dosa.

Honagone soppu bassaru palya can also be served along side idli, its an amazing combination.

Possible variations

As mentioned earlier this recipe can be made as per family preferences and here are few possible variations listed below

Green gram: whole moong or green gram can be substituted with horsegram or combination of these two to make bassaru.

Toor dal: Toor dal can be substituted with chana dal or bengal gram. However, toor dal cooks faster than chana dal. It can be cooked easily compared to chana dal. Chana dal should be soaked for 1 to 2 hours compared to toor dal before we cook them.

Red chilies: For bassaru I have used red chilies to grind the masala. You can easily swap red chilies with green chilies or use gandari menasu.

The colour of rasam changes and becomes brown in colour.

Coconut oil: Any refined oil can be used instead of coconut oil to fry the masala ingredients and tempering the rasam.

Red onion: It can be replaced with sambar onions, add them in small quantities, as it has overpowering aroma compared to other ingredients.

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Frequently asked questions?

Is this recipe glutenfree?

Yes this rasam and stir fry recipe is glutenfree.

Can we prepare this in advance?

Yes this dish can be made in advance and reheated just before serving.

Can I use asafoetida in this recipe?

Yes instead of garlic, use asafoetida in tempering the rasam and palya.

Can I use ghee for tempering the bassaru?

If you want a non-vegan version, then temper the bassaru with ghee. Ghee tempering also gives a nice aroma to rasam.

Can we refrigerate the leftover bassaru and palya?

Yes we can refrigerate the leftover bassaru and palya. Before we serve the leftover, we have to reheat them.

Can we freeze the leftover?

I always prefer not to freeze the leftover curry or gravies. It changes the taste of rasam and palya after we thaw them

Can we cook the greens and lentils separately?

Yes we can cook them separately, however be careful to use water in right quantity, or you will end up in large quantity of stock. So I suggest you cook all the three together in single cooker.

Can we add fresh coconut to make bassaru masala?

We can add fresh coconut to make masala, however rasam will become very thick after cooking so make sure to add a spoon of coconut only for flavor. Other way is swapping the cooked greens mixture by fresh coconut while making the masala. If we add fresh coconut the taste changes.

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