This is an amazing plant that we should get to know off without fail as it has wonderful health benefits and medicinal uses. The plant produces white flowers and green berries that turns yellow when ripe. We use the fruits of this plant either in fresh form or in dried form for medicinal uses. It is called Turkey Berry | Pea Eggplant in English, Sundakkai in Tamil, Usthikaya in Telugu, Bhankatiya in Hindi, Kudanekai in Kannada and Chundanga in Malayalam. It’s botanical name is Solanum Torvum. My paternal grandfather was very fond of sundakkai and always insisted that we have the plant in our home. These are the medicinal uses of sundakkai | turkey berry: 1. Turkey Berry For Intestinal Worms: Turkey berry has been traditionally used for treating intestinal worms and I would suggest frying sundakkai in little bit of oil along with little bit of ajwain. Powder them in a dry mixer and mix it with rice and consume for treating intestinal worms. 2. Turkey Berry For Diabetes: Turkey berry has been recommended for diabetics and this use is backed by research, you can read the study that proves it here. 3. Turkey Berry For Indigestion, Gastritis & Stomach Ache: Dried sundakkai podi is recommended for treating all stomach related problems very effectively. To make the sundakkai podi, fry dried sundakkai vathal (dried turkey berry) in little bit of oil along with required amount of cumin seeds and peppercorns. Add salt and powder the ingredients in a dry mixer, this powder can be had along with rice. 4. Turkey Berry For Cold & Cough: Sundakkai is very useful for treating cold, cough and chest congestion very effectively. I would suggest either the sundakkai podi or the soup for treating cold and cough. 5. Turkey Berry For anemia: Turkey berry is high in iron so people suffering from anemia will benefit taking turkey berry regularly. In Tamil Nadu, we make a wonderful gravy with it called sundakkai vatha kulambu and I really love that gravy. The only problem is, when you want to treat anemia, you have to eat turkey berry on a regular basis and it is impossible to make the gravy daily. The turkey berry soup given below is perfect to make on a daily basis as it can be made very quickly. This soup is really tasty and is very comforting to drink when we suffer from cold and cough. Regular consumption of this soup raises the blood count. This soup also treats stomach ulcers and also aids digestion. To make this turkey berry soup, first you have to clean the berries else the soup will be bitter. To clean, pound the fresh turkey berries in a mortar and pestle. Add the pounded turkey berries to a bowl of water and wash them well by rubbing them between your fingers, the seeds will settle down. Wash them once more and now the turkey berries are ready for the soup. I have used homemade ghee/clarified butter to fry the spices and it gives the best flavor. If you are suffering from insomnia, try making this often for best results. If you are planning to give it to the children, decrease the quantity of pepper in the pounded mixture. Drink this soup hot and you will be making this often both for it’s taste and for it’s health benefits. Sundakkai Side Effects: Sundakkai has very low toxicity and is usually well tolerated by everyone.
METHOD:
1. Pound the turkey berries in a mortar and pestle. Add the pounded berries to a bowl of water and wash them well. The seeds would have settled down. Now take the berries alone and wash them once or twice more.
2. In a mortar and pestle, pound the cumin seeds and pepper corns. Heat ghee in a pan and fry the pounded spices.
3. Add the washed turkey berries and fry them for a minute.
4. Add 2 cups of water and salt. Close with a lid and let it boil till the berries are cooked.
5. Remove from fire and strain the mixture and your wonderful turkey berry soup is ready.
NOTES:
- Use fresh turkey berries for good taste.
- Increase or decrease the amount of pepper according to your taste.
- If you don’t wash the turkey berries like mentioned, the soup will have a bitter taste.
- Ghee /clarified butter gives the best taste for this soup, you can substitute it with homemade butter too
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