Vathal kuzhambu recipe with its health benefits of ayurveda.

Sundakkai vathal kuzhambu – is a tasty side dish for rice.  Turkey berry is called assundakkai in Tamil and Chundanga in Malayalam.  This is a plant which is believed to have high medicinal value according to ayurveda.  It helps in digestion and is considered as a home remedy for stomach infections.  Sundakkai / Chundanga is very popular and is widely made use of especially in South India. The name vathal kuzhambu is a Tamil word.  Vathal means “sun dried vegetable” and kuzhambu means “curry”.  This vathal kuzhambu is a tasty tamarind based curry and is very easy to prepare too. 

Health benefits of sundakkai :  

Turkey berry / sundakkai has many essential nutrients or minerals which are helpful in preventing and curing diseases.

 Though the dried ones are most tasty than the fresh berries, it is always beneficial to use the fresh ones as it has the potential to kill germs and is best for stomach related infections.  It is also helpful in curing digestion problems and also helps in controlling diabetics.

Ingredients:-

For masala:-

• Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
• Channa dal - 1 tbsp
• Urad dal - 1 tbsp
• Rice - 1 tbsp
• Fenugreek seed - 1 tea spoon
• Cumin seed - 2 tea spoon
• Black pepper - 1 tea spoon
• Dried red chilli - 2
• Garlic - 6 pods
• Oil - 1 tea spoon

For gravy:-

• Onion -1
• Garlic - 10pods
• Curry leaves - 2 spring
• Tamarind - small lemon size dissolved
• Oil - 2 tbsp

For tempering:-

• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Cumin - 1 tea spoon
• Mustard - 1 tea spoon
• Curry leaves - 2 spring
• Dried turkey berries - 2 tbsp

Preparation method:-

* Heat a pan add in a tea spoon of oil and add all the ingredients mentioned in masala.

* Saute till masala gives you nice aroma.

* Allow it to cool & grind to a paste by adding little water.

* Now take a heavy bottomed pan or nonstick pan, add 2 tbsp of oil.

* Add curry leaves and garlic saute it till it raw smell goes off.

* Add onion and saute till it changes to translucent.

* Now add the grinded masala to the pan and saute for few minutes.

* Add tamarind water and some water, close the lid and cook for 10 mins.

* In a mean time, heat 2 tbsp oil in a small pan and add all the ingredients mentioned in tempering.

* Add this to the gravy and switch off the gas in two mins.

Stepwise pictures:-

Step1:-

Take this all ingredients get ready. Heat the pan and add a tbsp of oil. After the oil gets heated add all the ingredients mentioned in masala above. Saute till the masala gives you a nice aroma.

After saute the masala, you will get like this.

Step 2:-

Allow the masala to cool and grind to gets like a paste by adding a little water. The paste will looks like in the above pic.

Step 3:-

Now take a heavy bottomed pan or nonstick pan, add 2 tbsp oil and add a curry leaves, garlic then saute it till it raw smell goes off.

 Then you will get like a above pic.

Add a onion and saute till it change to translucent. Now add the grind masala to the pan and saute for few minutes then add tamarind water and some water, close the lid and cook for 10 min .after that heat the pan with 2 tbsp oil and add all the ingredients mentioned in tempering. After that add this to gravy and switch off the gas in two mins. now your vathal kuzhambu has been cooked.

The vathal kuzhambu will looks like this .

ADVANTAGES OF TURKEY BERRY

 TO KILL GERMS:

We used to eat lot of sweets because they taste good and as a result they produce a lot of germs in our body. Once the bacteria and other germs formed in our body, it creates a lot of problems to us. These problems are prevented by eating Turkey Berry in the form of gravy. (In Tamil it is called as Sundakkai Vathal Kuzhambu).

TO CONTROL DIABETES:

If we eat the Turkey Berries for 4 days in a week in any form (dried or gravy), diabetes will come in to control.Frying the dried fruit using oil and then adding them to kuzhambu and eating them will help us avoid digestion problems

TO STRENGTHEN THE BONES:

Consuming the Turkey Berries on the daily basis will strengthen the bones and nerves and also helps in the physical development of our body.

TO PREVENT GAS TROUBLE:

Gas problems are totally controlled if we take the Turkey Berries which is deep fried in the oil.

TO CURE PARALYSIS:

If the people who are affected with paralysis problem consume Turkey Berries, the disease will be cured.

TO PREVENT TEETH RELATED DISEASES:

All the teeth related problems are cured if we take the powdered Turkey Berry added with salt.

Because of all these medicinal values we should not neglect this plant. We should start growing them in our garden and eat them regularly to stay healthy in our life.