Suck, chew and slurp on that drumstick

People who eat drumstick in their sambar fall into two camps.

- NANDITA IYER

The first kind loves eating them whole, soaking up all the tamarind and spices of the sambar. They suck out the softened pulp like a meat-eater savoring marrow from a bone. It is also mandatory to chew on the leathery skin thoroughly to extract every last bit of juice and flavor. What remains on the plate is a pile of fibrous scraps, not unlike the leftovers at a sugarcane juice stall.

And then there's the second kind—the bougie crowd. They want the inner flesh of the drumstick neatly scooped out and stirred into the sambar, no mess tolerated. They want the comfort of Indian food, but tidied up, Westernized. The same kind who want their mangoes all peeled and diced and served in a fancy ceramic bowl with a fruit fork.

If you don't shy away from eating with your hands, there's a repertoire of drumstick dishes in south Indian cuisine beyond the classic sambar.

Some memorable ones I've tasted include the drumstick and raw mango curry from Kerala, nuggekai huli from Karnataka, and the tangy-hot pulusu from Telugu kitchens.

And just in case you thought drumsticks had a southern bias—they're equally beloved in Gujarati, Maharashtrian, Odia and Bengali homes, each bringing to it a distinctive blend of spices and techniques.

For those who want the benefits of moringa with a hands-off approach, there's a recipe shared by the Prime Minister in a speech a couple of years ago, which he says is his favorite—drumstick soup. It's simple and is perfect for that pre-dinner something.