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
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.
