Manathakkali Plant is very common in South India and I think I saw this plant in every household and they make different food items using its leaves, green berries, flowers, black ripe berries. Its a medicinal plant and used widely in Ayurvedic medicine. Leaves of this plant are believed to cure stomach related problems and liver problems. We make Manathakkali Vathal Kuzhambu, Manathakkali Keerai Kootu / curry / paruppu usili / Usiliyal etc., This item I tried Manathakkali Keerai Usiliyal / Poriyal which my mom prepared almost weekly. I loved to pluck the good leaves from the plant during my childhood and we had few plants in our backyard during that time. My mom tried to make different varieties using this Manathakkali Keerai and one of the varieties is this simple usiliyal. Its an excellent and healthy side dish in any healthy meal. I am very proud to present this in my blog as I have used our home grown manathakkali leaves in my preparation.
Fresh Manathakkali Leaves - Between 2 to 3 cups packed.Moong Dal / Payatham Paruppu / Pesara Pappu - 1 Handful
Salt - To Taste
Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash
Oil - 3 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Jeera / Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Urad Dal / Ulutham Paruppu - 1 tsp
Dry Red Chillies - 2 Medium
Fresh Coconut Flakes - 1/2 cup
Method
- Pluck the good manathakkali leaves from the plant. Wash them thoroughly and chop them nicely.
- Soak the Payatham Paruppu in water and cook them separately and keep the cooked dal ready.
- In a kadai / pan, add oil first. Finish the tempering process by adding hing, mustard seeds, urad dal , dry red chillies into the pan.
- Add the chopped leaves into the pan. Sprinkle some water and allow them to cook for 2-3 minutes with the lid closed.
- When its cooked, add the cooked Moong Dal, required amount of salt into the pan and fry for another 2 minutes.
- Switch off the flame and garnish with some fresh coconut flakes on its top. A healthy side dish is ready to be served.
Hey, where did you get the seeds?
ReplyDeletevaththal won't work!
Have you read this link?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum_nigrum
mmm... Very confusing!
Akka, I used only the Vathal seeds, and I got this idea from Gai only. It worked well and
ReplyDeletenow I get to see many manathakkali plants in my garden...its growing beautifully with Vathal seeds only.
Yes, akka I did read the link against the "Solanum nigrum" and it was really confusing.
But I used only our Indian seeds and its edible and medicinal..So, I did not worry that much about their varieties...akka.
yeah...Thanks Vidhya!
ReplyDelete