Ingredients:
Dry sundakai vathal - 1 tablespoon or as needed
Tamarind - 1 gooseberry sized
Red chilies - 2 nos
Kuzhambu podi - 1 tablespoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt - as per taste
Garlic - few pods
Shallots - 5 or 6 nos
Water - 2 cups
Oil - 2 tablespoon (preferably sesame/gingely oil)
Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Curry leaves - few
There are different ways of making sundakai vathal kara kuzhambu and this is one that I learnt from my amma. She has another version of the same kuzhambu which I will share sometime later.
Sundakai used to terrorize me during my childhood days. As we kids had a huge intake of sugar in forms of candies, my mom made sure she made this kuzhambu at least once a month to detox our stomach. Though it had a faint bitter taste to it, I still could not handle its bitterness then. However now, I can't wait to make this dish and enjoy it till the last drop of it.
You can find dried sundakai in any Indian grocery store or if you have the sundakai plant at home, you may sun dry the sundakai for a couple of days and use it instead. You can even make kara kuzhambu with fresh sundakai which will taste as good as sun dried sundakai. Either ways, its gonna taste yummy.
There are different variations in the sundakai that is available in the market. One which is simply sun dried and another where it has been soaked in curd and then sun dried. If you find the later (although this expires really quickly), you can get those, else soak the sun dried sundakai in half cup of curd with a pinch of salt for about 2 hours and drain the sundakai. Leave it covered with cotton kitchen towel under the sun for about a day or till you feel it is 90% dry.
Now on to the recipe.
Extract thick tamarind juice by soaking the tamarind in 1/4 cup of hot water. Be careful to extract after the water cools down and do not burn your fingers.
In a kadai, warm up gingely/sesame oil and add mustard seeds, red chilies & curry leaves. Once the spurting stops, add in the shallots and garlic. Lower the flame and saute onions & garlic for few mins. To this add the sundakai and stir for a min. Now pour in the tamarind juice along with a cup of water. Add in the kuzhambu masala, turmeric and salt per taste. Bring this kuzhambu to a boil under medium flame. Let the kuzhambu boil for some more time till you see oil floating on the top.
This tastes yummy with white rice and potato fry or vazhakai fry or aviyal or a humble appalam.
Some more details about sundakai. It is called Turkey berry in English and has rich source of Iron, Calcium and Vitamin A. Sundakai when taken regularly improves digestion and it is also found that it aids with controlling diabetes.
Dry sundakai vathal - 1 tablespoon or as needed
Tamarind - 1 gooseberry sized
Red chilies - 2 nos
Kuzhambu podi - 1 tablespoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt - as per taste
Garlic - few pods
Shallots - 5 or 6 nos
Water - 2 cups
Oil - 2 tablespoon (preferably sesame/gingely oil)
Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Curry leaves - few
There are different ways of making sundakai vathal kara kuzhambu and this is one that I learnt from my amma. She has another version of the same kuzhambu which I will share sometime later.
Sundakai used to terrorize me during my childhood days. As we kids had a huge intake of sugar in forms of candies, my mom made sure she made this kuzhambu at least once a month to detox our stomach. Though it had a faint bitter taste to it, I still could not handle its bitterness then. However now, I can't wait to make this dish and enjoy it till the last drop of it.
You can find dried sundakai in any Indian grocery store or if you have the sundakai plant at home, you may sun dry the sundakai for a couple of days and use it instead. You can even make kara kuzhambu with fresh sundakai which will taste as good as sun dried sundakai. Either ways, its gonna taste yummy.
There are different variations in the sundakai that is available in the market. One which is simply sun dried and another where it has been soaked in curd and then sun dried. If you find the later (although this expires really quickly), you can get those, else soak the sun dried sundakai in half cup of curd with a pinch of salt for about 2 hours and drain the sundakai. Leave it covered with cotton kitchen towel under the sun for about a day or till you feel it is 90% dry.
Now on to the recipe.
Extract thick tamarind juice by soaking the tamarind in 1/4 cup of hot water. Be careful to extract after the water cools down and do not burn your fingers.
In a kadai, warm up gingely/sesame oil and add mustard seeds, red chilies & curry leaves. Once the spurting stops, add in the shallots and garlic. Lower the flame and saute onions & garlic for few mins. To this add the sundakai and stir for a min. Now pour in the tamarind juice along with a cup of water. Add in the kuzhambu masala, turmeric and salt per taste. Bring this kuzhambu to a boil under medium flame. Let the kuzhambu boil for some more time till you see oil floating on the top.
This tastes yummy with white rice and potato fry or vazhakai fry or aviyal or a humble appalam.
Some more details about sundakai. It is called Turkey berry in English and has rich source of Iron, Calcium and Vitamin A. Sundakai when taken regularly improves digestion and it is also found that it aids with controlling diabetes.
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