Turkey berry / Sundakkai Vathal / Sunda Vathal is widely used for culinary and medicinal purposes. These berries are either used as fresh berries or dried berries. Turkey berries are soaked in butter milk for one day and then dried in the hot sun for at least 15 days and then used for cooking. It is great medicine for weight reduction. I have seen that magic in my life. I ate sundakkai kulambu, 2 chapathi and a small bowl of rice for 48 days plus walking. I have reduced so many pounds.  Many people they don’t like this vathal because of its bitter taste , try to eat it for health reasons. It is very good for digestion, liver and  it kills germs in stomach. Coming to this recipe, it is very quick to make dish with less ingredients. Try to have this rice every week..you can see the changes to your health.  Try this medicinal rice and let me know your feedback. Also check this recipe Vendakkai Sunda Vatha Kulambu.


     Ingredients

         2 Cups of Cooked Rice
         1 Tbsp of Sundakkai Vathal / Dried Turkey Beans
         7 Small Onions/ Shallots, Whole
         1 Medium Size Large Red Onion, Finely Chopped
         10 Garlic Cloves, Whole
         1 Tbsp of Sunda Vathal Powder
         Salt to taste

     To Temper

         1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp of Indian Sesame Oil / Gingelly Oil
         1 Tsp of Mustard Seeds
         1 Tsp of Urad Dal
         2 Red Chillies
         Handful of Curry Leaves

      Method

• Heat a pan with little oil, add 1 tbsp of sunda vathal, fry for 1-2 min and grind it to a fine powder using mixie or spice grinder.
• Heat a pan with oil, add mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and red chillies (break it), after it splutter, add small onion, chopped large onion, garlic cloves, sunda vathal and salt, saute this for 3 mins in a medium high flame, until it turns to golden brown color and raw smell vanishes.
• In a low flame, add turmeric powder, fry for few secs.
• Add cooked rice and sunda vathal powder and a tsp of oil, toss well with a spoon in a low flame.  Turn off the flame.
• Serve hot with any vegetable fry and papad.              

     Tips

• Careful while adding salt, because sunda vathal already has salt in it.
• You can also use manna thakali vathal instead of sundakkai vathal.
• Try to use small onions for the whole dish, I used 1 large onion because I have only few small onion in my pantry.

   
     Health Benefits of Sundakkai Vathal / Dried Turkey Berry

• Turkey berry is an ancient plant and is used in many Ayurvedic treatments. It has sedative, diuretic and digestive properties. It is used in curing coughs. It is a good tonic for liver. The unripe fruits are used to strengthen immunity power and also reduce body heat.
• Control Diabetes – If we turkey berry for 4 days in any form, diabetes will come in control.
• Turkey berries are used in the treatment of mucus, cough or phlegm. Berries are dried, powdered and then taken for curing these illnesses.
• The berries help in proper digestion. They kill harmful bacterial growth in the stomach and intestines. They help in destroying intestinal worms owing to their bitter taste. They cure infections in the stomach and liver. They also stimulate regular activities of the bowel.
• Turkey berries are used in traditional medicines to cure night blindness. It strengthens the nerves in the eyes and provides a clear vision.
• Solanum Torvum is also used worldwide to treat various ailments like piles, asthma, chest phlegm, tuberculosis and severe cough. Take equal quantities of dried turkey berry along with the dried Indian gooseberry or amla, fenugreek seeds, Ajwain seeds, dry ginger powder, cumin seeds, dried curry leaves, shells of pomegranate & soft seeds of mango fruit. Make a powder with all these ingredients. Add 1 teaspoonful of this powder in 1 cup of warm milk. This herbal drink is very good for your health and it supports a healthy immune system.

        Vazhakkai podimas is a south Indian dish, made with vazhakkai or raw banana. This dish is very easy to make with less ingredients, flavorful and healthy. This is my mom’s recipe. I love to eat this for rasam rice or puli kulambu. You can cook the raw banana either in pressure cooker or in stove top. I prefer stove top method. Raw banana we use in this recipe should be soft but not mushy. It tastes yummy as a side dish for sambar rice or rasam rice. Sorry my photograph was not good, because its been raining for the past 3 days. So it was not clear.

      Ingredients

            1 Medium Size Raw Plantain, Grated
            2 Tsp of Oil
            1 Tsp of Mustard Seeds
            1 Tsp of Urad Dal
            2 Red Chillies
            Pinch of Asafoetida / Hing
            Few Curry Leaves
            3 Tbsp of Chopped Onion
            1/4 Tsp of Turmeric Powder
            1 Tbsp of Grated Coconut
            Salt to Taste
           

• Wash and cut both the ends of raw plantain.
• Heat a pan with enough water, add raw banana to it, cook till it changes skin color and turns soft but not mushy. It takes about 10 mins in high flame.

• After it cool down, peel off the skin and grate it.
• Heat a pan with oil, add red chillies (Break it),  mustard seeds and urad dal, after it splutters,  add asafoetida, curry leaves, chopped onion, turmeric powder and salt, fry for 2 mins.
• Keep the flame in low, add grated vazhakkai (raw banana), cook for 2 mins.
• Add the grated coconut, mix well and turn off the flame.
• Serve hot with sambar rice or rasam rice or pulikulambu.

     Tips

• You can cook vazhakkai in pressure cooker for 1 whistle instead of cooking it in the pan.
• Add chopped green chillies for more spicy taste in addition to red chillies.
• You can also add 1 tsp of lemon juice at the end for a slight tangy taste.

     Health Benefits of Vazhakkai / Raw Banana

• Good source of resistant starch, a type of starch that cannot be broken down by enzymes in our digestive system, acts like fiber than starch, good for diabetes. 
• High in potassium and vitamin B6.
• High in fiber content.

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மிளகு சீரகம் சாதம்

 
        Black pepper and Cumin are the most important culinary spices in the world. Black pepper has a century long history of use and cultivation across all the continents of the world. While millions of people consume pepper in their food every day, most do not realize that black pepper is also an important medicinal spice that can be used to treat a wide variety of physical symptoms and diseases. Most important is black pepper should be consumed safely in moderate quantities. Adding pepper along with cumin or turmeric is a great natural way to enhance overall body health. Black pepper stimulates the taste buds in such a way that an alert is sent to the stomach to increase the hydrochloric acid secretion, thereby improving the digestion. Whereas the cumin boosts the power of liver, thereby it detoxifies the body.
      Coming to this recipe, it can be done in minutes, easy, flavorful and a healthy dish. Also good for cough/cold/sore throat. This is my mom’s recipe and this rice dish is prepared with black pepper, cumin, curry leaves and rice. The sharp spiciness from pepper corns, aromatic curry leaves and flavorful cumin along with rice gives an irresistible authentic flavor.


     Ingredients

     To Make A Pepper Mix

         2 Tsp of Black Pepper Corns
         1 Tsp of Cumin, Whole
         1 Tbsp of Toor Dal / Pigeon Dal/ Thuvaram Paruppu
         1 Red Chilly, Big

     To Temper

          2 Tsp of Gingelly Oil / Indian Sesame Oil
          1 Tsp of Mustard Seeds
          1/2 Tsp of Urad Dal
          Pinch of Hing/ Asafoetida / Perungayam
          2 Sprig of Curry Leaves

     Other Ingredients

          1 Tsp of  Clarified Butter / Ghee
          2 Cups + 1/4 Cup of Cooked Rice
          Salt to taste


     Method

     To make a pepper mix

• Heat a pan over medium heat, when hot, add pepper corns, cumin, toor dal and red chilly. Roast it without oil, stirring continuously, until it turns to light brown color and the aroma comes, for about 3-5 mins. Turn off the flame. Let it cool down for 5 mins.
• Grind this spices to a fine powder in a blender/ mixie or spice grinder.
•  I used only 5 tsp of pepper powder for this rice.

  
     Tempering
      

•  Heat oil in a pan over medium heat, when hot, add mustard seeds, urad dal, asafoetida (hing) and curry leaves. After mustard seeds splutters, urad dal changes color,  turn off the flame.

     Mixing of spice mix and rice

• In a wide bowl, add the tempering items, over that add the boiled rice, top of the rice, add 5 Tsp of  pepper mix, salt and ghee. Fluff the rice gently with a spoon. Do not break the rice while mixing. Check the salt and add accordingly. 
• Transfer to the serving dish and serve it with potato chips or any vegetable kootu.

     Tips

• Adjust spicyness according to your taste. I used only 5 tsp of pepper mix.
• Do not use pre – ground pepper powder, use fresh pepper corns. 
• Store the remaining powder in an airtight container.  Whenever you crave for this rice, just mix it with rice and ghee.
• Do not break the rice while mixing.
• Adding ghee/ clarified butter gives a nice flavor to the dish.
• You can add bengal gram/chenna dal while tempering.
• Adding cashews gives a rich taste to the rice.

    Health Benfits of Pepper and Cumin

    Cumin

• Good for digestion, mental function and respiration.
• Strengthens the immune system.
• Rich in iron, so good for blood health.
• Healthy herbs for a women of all ages.
• Anti-carcinogenic properties.
• Boosts the metabolic rate.

    Black Pepper

• Aids in digestion.
• Helps to fight cancer, fight tooth decay and good for weight loss.
• Powerful antioxidant and natural anti depressant.
• Relieves cough and cold
• Reduces inflammation.
• Good for skin.

sending this recipe to My Cooking Journey and Zesty South Indian Kitchen