Sundaikai curry

Sundaikai, Turkey Berry in English, is a very popular in Tamilnadu. Commonly prepared as vathal, dried sundaikai, this can also be cooked freshly to make curry, kootu, sambar, kuzhambu, pachadi, Thuvayal, etc..

Sundaikai contains high medicinal value and is very good for health. It is rich in Iron content and it acts like cleanser to clean our stomach. It is widely used in Siddha medicine for making chooranams, which is helpful for digestion problems. Even now most mothers feed sundaikai vathal to her daughter, after she give birth to a baby.

Earlier days, in our town almost every house had the plant in their back yards. I can recollect a lot of days when we ran out of vegetables at home and the fresh sundaikais from our (and our neighbours :-)) backyards saved the day. My mom makes sundaikai vathal at home itself. But now I am paying Rs.20 for 1/2 cup fresh sundaikai. Still its worth buying.

Last week, my mother-in-law made this wonderful curry. I never had this type of sudaikai curry before. Hope the image does justice to the wholesome taste of the curry.

Ingredients : 1 cup -- Fresh Sundaikai 1/4 cup -- Shreded coconut 1 tsp -- turmeric powder 1 tsp -- Mustard seeds 1 tbsp -- Chana dal 1 tbsp -- Urad dal 1 tsp -- Jeera Salt -- To taste 2-3 tsp -- Oil To fry : 1/2 cup -- Urad dal 1/4 cup -- Chana dal 2-3 tbsp -- Dania seeds 4-5 nos -- Dry chilli 2 tsp -- Pepper Few curry leaves 1 tsp -- Asafoetida Method : --- We always get the sundaikai with the stem. Take the stem part, which will easily come off and wash it thoroughly. --- After washing, take them in a zip lock bag, I prefer to put one more bag. --- Now comes the messy part, take a small hammer and smash all the sundaikai. You no need to work hard for this, since those are very delicate, it will be smashed easily. Before washing Sundaikai --- Transfer the sundaikai in to a pan and wash out the seeds completely. --- That's it, cleaning part is over. Cooking sundaikai is similar like cooking beans curry. --- Take a pan and add all the ingredients listed below 'To fry" and fry them in the medium heat. Fry till the dal color changes. *** Important note - Adjust the chilli and pepper measure according to your taste. Don't blame me later :)) --- Transfer the fried mixture to a blender and let it cool for a while. --- Keep the same pan in medium heat and add oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds. As soon as the seeds crackles add chana dal, urud dal and turmeric. --- When the dal colors changes add the washed sundaikai. --- Add little water to cook and close the pan. --- Meanwhile grind the fried ingredients with a spoon of jeera and coconut. This is called as curry podi. You can use this for almost all the vegetables. --- Now check the sundaikai, if cooked add the curry podi. *** You can add the curry podi according to the taste you like. If you have some left-overs, store them in air tight container. As I said earlier, this will be good for any curry, also you can add this in sambar. --- Add salt according to taste and cook for 3-4 minutes and turn off the heat.

Yummy Sundaikai curry is ready to serve with hot rice :)