The weather is chill, windy and pleasant. As I sit on the couch, watching my favorite illayaraja
songs with laptop in hand, I couldn't
stop myself pouring my random thoughts.
It's been a while I posted something on my page but that doesn't mean I
had completely stopped the background work.
I still work on taking step by step pictures when preparing some dishes,
gaze over the main pictures that I had taken, and learn the nuances
of photography on my own by reading something related to that.
Every time I thought
to write something, it would be something or other that would pop up and hinder
my thoughts. Both DH and MDS (My Dear Son) are out of home,
went for cricket coaching, I had no one to interrupt my work. Of late, we are seeing that MDS interests are
more towards cricket and based on his plea we joined him in a coaching
center. The coaching center has a big garden
inside where they yield many types of greens and vegetables. DH would love to buy freshly plucked varieties of greens/veggies and ask me to prepare something out of it.
One time, he got freshly plucked Turkey Berries and I made sambar with
it.
Turkey Berry has lot of medicinal
benefits; it increases red blood cells thus help in treating anemia, indigestion,
menstruation, etc.
INGREDIENTS:
Turkey Berry - 1 cup
Tomato - 1
Onion - 1
Sambar Powder - 2 tsp
Cooked Thoor Dhal - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Tamarind Water - 2 cups (Extracted from tamarind pulp)
Green chilly -2
Curry leaves - few
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Asafoetida powder - a pinch
PREPARATION:
1. Soak tamarind pulp in warm water for 10 minutes and
extract the tamarind water.
2. Pressure cook thoor dhal with enough water and keep it
side.
3. Wash and slit the turkey berry in the middle as shown in
the picture.
4. In a kadai/pan, add oil and throw in the tempering items;
first mustard seeds and when it sizzles, add curry leaves and green chilly
followed by a pinch of asafoetida powder.
Add sliced onions and when it browned, add the tomatoes
and turkey berry Add salt and sambar
powder and mix well. Add extracted
tamarind water and let it boil for 15 minutes until the raw smell of tamarind
goes off and turkey berries have booked soft.
Add the cooked mashed thoor dhal and mix well. Let it boil some more time, say for 2-3
minutes. The consistency should neither
be too thick nor too watery, so adjust the thickness accordingly. Switch off the flame and add coriander leaves
for garnishing (Optional).
5. Serve this sambar with hot cooked rice with a tsp of ghee
and I bet you would intake few spoons extra unavoidably .
