Pachai Sundaikaai PuliKuzhambhu/Fresh Turkey Berry in Tamarind Gravy

The final week of January BM, for which i was prepared a fortnight earlier. Turkey berries, how many of you like to cook with them. I love making puli kuzhambu/kaara Kuzhambu. Recently i tried making more kuzhambu with them, which tasted out of the world. I wil be posting recipes of sundaikaai/turkey berries, for 3 days now. The first in line is the finger-licking kuzhambu. It is super hit recipe at home and my elder one totally falls for this. This kuzhambu and some potato curry, he is settled. If you love a tangy gravy, then you will definitely like this kuzhambu. Some might feel, this gravy might be bitter, but definitely not. The berries are crushed to remove the seeds inside them, which make them bitter, so you can very well go ahead and try it, you will definitely like it.

Ingredients

½ cup Pachai Sundaikaai/Fresh Turkey Berry

one lemon-sized tamarind

2 heaped teaspoon sambar powder

1 medium-sized tomato, chopped

¾ tsp- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste

Tempering

2 tablespoon gingely oil

¼ teaspoon mustard seeds

2 pinches of methi seeds/fenugreek seeds

2 pinches of hing

2 pinches of turmeric powder

a sprig of curry leaf

Method

Soak Tamarind in warm water for 15 minutes. Extract around 3-4 cups of tamarind extract and set aside.
Wash the turkey berries and take them in a zip loc cover. Now place the cover on the kitchen counter and using a pestle or a roller crush the berries. This is done to crack the berries and remove the seeds inside, which make the berries very bitter.

Taking the berries in the cover, helps to contain the mess inside the cover itself. This can be done straight on the kitchen counter also, but there will be little mess on the counter, which need to be attended immediately.
Take the crushed berries in another bowl, add water and wash the seeds and drain the berries skin alone. Discard the water with the seeds.
Heat a kadai/Deep pan, add gingely oil, when it is hot enough, splutter mustard seeds, add methi, hing, turmeric powder and curry leaves. Saute for 30 seconds.
Now add the turkey berries, and saute for a minute. Add chopped tomatoes and let it sweat for a minute.
To this add sambar powder and mix well. Adding sambar powder while sauteing veggies gives a deep and rich color, the trademark of kaarakuzhambu/puli kuzhambu. Once mixed, add the tamarind water and mix well.
Add salt to this and let this cook in a medium flame, until the gravy thickens well. Some prefer to add diluted rice powder to the puli kuzhambu, but i prefer mine, thickened on its own.
Once the gravy thickens, the oil separates and floats on top. Take it off the stove and serve it with steaming hot rice and some appalam/pappad for a filling meal.