Manathakali keerai, sukuti keerai or black night shades in english is very good healing stomach related ailments. It is also known as Sunberry and Wonderberry.
The fruit as well as the leaves are having the medicinal values. The raw fruit is soaked in curd and salt and sun dried for storing. it remains for a longer period. whenever you want can fry it and serve with rice, curd rice etc. or can use for vathal kuzhambu.
During our childhood, we used to pluck the fruit and pop it in our mouth though it does not have any kind of particular taste. After moving to Mumbai, I used to see this plant on the compound wall or in the backyard of our office building. Whenever, I get a chance to see this plant, I somehow remove it and bring home to replant the same in my balcony garden. Same case, goes with sundakkai also.
Once I gave the ripe fruit to my son and he loved it. Still he remembers though he is 24 year old, eats it and tell his sister that you do not know the taste of it as she refuses to eat it. When we were very small, we used to call it chinna thakali (means small tomatoes). I have seen an light orange variety during my childhood, but now a days, cannot see them. We also had a purple colour chilli plant in our garden when we were small and used to wonder from where the seeds come from.
Coming back to the manathakali, after plucking the raw fruit from the plant, always put in salt water for washing as there could be some small insects in it. If you put in salt water, it dies and can be removed after straining in the poori jaara.
We make poriyal, kootu, molagootal etc.with the leaves but you need a sizeable quantity of leaves. We make soup out of this and is excellent with coconut milk. Even you can feed the children too as it will have mild sweet flavour because of the coconut milk which is again good for the stomach.
I have posted the photographs of the plant, raw fruit and the ripe fruit below.
click here: video
Let us look at the recipe now:
Time taken: 45 minutes totally
serves: 2
Ingredients:
1/4 cup fresh manathakali
2 tsp sambhar powder
a small lemon size ball tamarind
1/4 tsp jaggery
1 tsp rice flour
1 tsp dhania powder
turmeric powder
salt
2-3 tsp sesame oil
Tempering:
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp tuvar dal
1 tsp urid dal
a generous pinch of asafoetida
few curry leaves
1 kashmiri chilli broken
Method:
1. Put the fresh manathakali in salt water and keep aside for 20-30 minutes. This process is absolutely necessary to remove the insects, if any in it. Remove from the salt water and wash properly and put in poori jara and keep in water so that the small insects, if any will settle down in the water.
2. Heat 2-3 tsp sesame oil in kadai. you can also use normal oil. But the taste is awesome with the gingelly oil. put the manathakali in it, saute for few minutes.
3. Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, sambhar powder and saute for a minute.
4. Soak the tamarind in hot water for 30 minutes and extract the pulp by adding 1/2 cup water. Add the tamarind pulp in kadai and allow to cook till the raw smell goes off.
5. Add the jaggery.
6. Mix two tsp water in the rice flour and add this to the kadai and boil the gravy.
7. Add 2 cups of water and bring to boil till you get a slight saucy consistency. When it becomes cool, it is likely to get thicken.
8. Heat oil in a laddle. add the mustard seeds, uriddal, tuvar dal, red chilli. when it is done add the curry leaves and asafoetida.
9. Pour it on top of the vathalkuzhambu and it is ready to serve.
How to serve:
You can serve it with plain rice with sutta appalam, curd rice, ven pongal etc. It is divine with curd rice.
You can also use the dried vathal. Before tempering,you can fry them, keep aside and put it inthe kuzhambu along with the tempering.
The Manathakali Plant, ripe fruit images
The fruit as well as the leaves are having the medicinal values. The raw fruit is soaked in curd and salt and sun dried for storing. it remains for a longer period. whenever you want can fry it and serve with rice, curd rice etc. or can use for vathal kuzhambu.
During our childhood, we used to pluck the fruit and pop it in our mouth though it does not have any kind of particular taste. After moving to Mumbai, I used to see this plant on the compound wall or in the backyard of our office building. Whenever, I get a chance to see this plant, I somehow remove it and bring home to replant the same in my balcony garden. Same case, goes with sundakkai also.
Once I gave the ripe fruit to my son and he loved it. Still he remembers though he is 24 year old, eats it and tell his sister that you do not know the taste of it as she refuses to eat it. When we were very small, we used to call it chinna thakali (means small tomatoes). I have seen an light orange variety during my childhood, but now a days, cannot see them. We also had a purple colour chilli plant in our garden when we were small and used to wonder from where the seeds come from.
Coming back to the manathakali, after plucking the raw fruit from the plant, always put in salt water for washing as there could be some small insects in it. If you put in salt water, it dies and can be removed after straining in the poori jaara.
We make poriyal, kootu, molagootal etc.with the leaves but you need a sizeable quantity of leaves. We make soup out of this and is excellent with coconut milk. Even you can feed the children too as it will have mild sweet flavour because of the coconut milk which is again good for the stomach.
I have posted the photographs of the plant, raw fruit and the ripe fruit below.
Let us look at the recipe now:
Time taken: 45 minutes totally
serves: 2
Ingredients:
1/4 cup fresh manathakali
2 tsp sambhar powder
a small lemon size ball tamarind
1/4 tsp jaggery
1 tsp rice flour
1 tsp dhania powder
turmeric powder
salt
2-3 tsp sesame oil
Tempering:
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp tuvar dal
1 tsp urid dal
a generous pinch of asafoetida
few curry leaves
1 kashmiri chilli broken
Method:
1. Put the fresh manathakali in salt water and keep aside for 20-30 minutes. This process is absolutely necessary to remove the insects, if any in it. Remove from the salt water and wash properly and put in poori jara and keep in water so that the small insects, if any will settle down in the water.
 |
| in salt water |
2. Heat 2-3 tsp sesame oil in kadai. you can also use normal oil. But the taste is awesome with the gingelly oil. put the manathakali in it, saute for few minutes.
3. Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, sambhar powder and saute for a minute.
4. Soak the tamarind in hot water for 30 minutes and extract the pulp by adding 1/2 cup water. Add the tamarind pulp in kadai and allow to cook till the raw smell goes off.
5. Add the jaggery.
6. Mix two tsp water in the rice flour and add this to the kadai and boil the gravy.
7. Add 2 cups of water and bring to boil till you get a slight saucy consistency. When it becomes cool, it is likely to get thicken.
8. Heat oil in a laddle. add the mustard seeds, uriddal, tuvar dal, red chilli. when it is done add the curry leaves and asafoetida.
9. Pour it on top of the vathalkuzhambu and it is ready to serve.
How to serve:
You can serve it with plain rice with sutta appalam, curd rice, ven pongal etc. It is divine with curd rice.
You can also use the dried vathal. Before tempering,you can fry them, keep aside and put it inthe kuzhambu along with the tempering.
The Manathakali Plant, ripe fruit images
 |
| Ripe fruit |
 |
| insect |
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