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    Home » Recipes » Bachelor Cooking

    Sundakkai vathal kuzhambu recipe, South Indian gravy

    July 15, 2013 by Raks Anand 44 Comments / Jump to Recipe

    Sundakkai vathal kuzhambu, flavourful south Indian gravy for rice, made with dried vegetables like sundakkai vathal, mangai vathal, kothavarangai vathal.

    sundakkai vathal kuzhambu
    sundakkai vathal kuzhambu
    Jump to:
    • How to make sudakkai vathal?
    • Instructions
    • Recipe card

    As I have said in my earlier post, I love love vathal kuzhambu than any other kuzhambu. Usually vathal kuzhambu recipes made by brahmins/ iyer has only vathal and no onion or garlic I think.

    But we make it with both. Though this time I made without garlic, we usually add finely chopped small onions and garlic.

    I love sundakkai vathal fried darkly to accompany curd rice. Never tasted the ones in these kuzhambu.

    Don’t ask about sundakkai kootu or sambar, I will run miles away from it. My mom insists to eat it for its health benefits. But I can’t eat. I love vathals though.

    We have sudakkai plant in our backyard, still have one at Salem. It yields a lot of sudankkai (turkey berry).

    sundakkai vathal kuzhambu
    sundakka vatha kuzhambu

    How to make sudakkai vathal?

    I like to make vathals out of sundakkai, its an interesting process. Yes, my mom washes and spreads the berries and we use a clean hammer to gently nudge on it and open it up.

    Then its all added to sour buttermilk and sundried to make vathal. Its stored and used throughout the year.

    I always wonder how our cuisine uses up the vegetables in form of vathals and it comes handy to cook at home, even when there is no vegetables in hand. Cool right? 😎.

    Sundakkai has a lot of health benefits, though I don't know many, one main thing is it can help you to get rid of worms in tummy, especially for bachelors who eat outside food and kids. Its also rich iron.

    sundakkai vathal kuzhambu

    Instructions

    1. Chop onion finely, extract tamarind juice by soaking it in hot water for 10 minutes. 
    2. Make it 2 and ½ cups by adding water to it. Set aside. Heat a kadai with sesame oil, temper with the items given under ‘To temper’ table.
    3. Before adding curry leaves, add sudakkai vathal and fry until everything turns golden brown in colour. Make sure the vathal gets fried.
    4. Add curry leaves followed by chopped onion. Fry till it turns brown here and there.
    temper

    5. Add the tamarind juice, bring to boil, add sambar powder, turmeric and salt. Lower the flame to medium.

    add kuzhambu powder

    6. Boil for 6-8 minutes or until oil separates, towards the end, add jaggery and mix well. Switch off the flame when the kuzhambu gets thick.

    simmer

    Usually, vathal kuzhambu and kootu is the best combination to serve. Thogayal also goes well with this.

    sundakkai vathal kuzhambu
    sundakkai vathal kuzhambu

    Recipe card

    sundakkai vathal kuzhambu
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    sundakkai vathal kuzhambu

    Vathal kuzhambu recipe, Sundakkai vathal kuzhambu, flavourful kuzhambu made with dried vegetables like sundakkai vathal, mangai vathal, kothavarangai vathal.
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Indian, South Indian
    Prep Time 10 minutes
    Cook Time 20 minutes
    Servings 3 people
    Cup measurements

    Ingredients

    • 20 Sundakkai vathal dried turkey berry
    • 1 Onion
    • 1 tablespoon Tamarind Gooseberry sized
    • 3 teaspoon Sambar powder measure heaped
    • ¼ teaspoon Turmeric
    • ½ teaspoon Jaggery
    • Salt

    To temper

    • 2 tablespoon Sesame oil
    • ½ teaspoon Mustard
    • ½ teaspoon Fenugreek seeds
    • 1 teaspoon Urad dal
    • 1 teaspoon Toor dal
    • 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
    • 1 sprig Curry leaves
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    • Chop onion finely, extract tamarind juice by soaking it in hot water for 10 minutes.  Make it 2 and ½ cups by adding water to it. Set aside.
    • Heat a kadai with sesame oil, temper with the items given under ‘To temper’ table.
    • Before adding curry leaves, add sudakkai vathal and fry until everything turns golden brown in colour. Make sure the vathal gets fried.
    • Add curry leaves followed by chopped onion. Fry till it turns brown here and there.
    • Add the tamarind juice, bring to boil, add sambar powder, turmeric and salt. Lower the flame to medium.
    • Boil for 6-8 minutes or until oil separates, towards the end, add jaggery and mix well.
    • Switch off the flame when the kuzhambu gets thick.

    Notes

    • If the kuzhambu does not get thick, you can consider dissolving ½ to 1 teaspoon rice flour in 1 tablespoon of water and add to kuzhambu. Do not over do as the consistency will be wierd.
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. AparnaRajeshkumar

      July 15, 2013 at 9:27 am

      Yes as u said vathakuzhambu is no onion and no garlic 🙂 variations are always there 🙂 so we can add the garlic and onion 🙂 The first snap shot with coconut thokayal 🙂 i am drooling!

      Reply
    2. prathibha Garre

      July 15, 2013 at 9:59 am

      Love tangy kind of side dishes with rice..looks yumm

      Reply
    3. Nivedhanams Sowmya

      July 15, 2013 at 10:03 am

      best comfy food!!! love the delicious vathal kuzhambu!!
      Sowmya

      Reply
    4. Ramya Krishnamurthy

      July 15, 2013 at 10:05 am

      yummy and my most favorite kuzhambu

      Reply
    5. Uma Ramanujam

      July 15, 2013 at 10:07 am

      One of my fav too Raks. we prepare it without onion and garlic as Aparna n u said. YUmmy with steamy rice...isn't it?

      Reply
    6. Harini M

      July 15, 2013 at 10:25 am

      Looks delicious 🙂

      Reply
    7. Chella KS Nathan

      July 15, 2013 at 10:38 am

      Raks amazing recipie 🙂 loved the clicks and how i wish to eat that plate full of tasty food 🙂 yum yum 🙂

      Reply
    8. CHITRA

      July 15, 2013 at 11:18 am

      Lovely clicks. My fav 🙂

      Reply
    9. Shama Nagarajan

      July 15, 2013 at 11:50 am

      delicious...

      Reply
    10. BAGIRATHI DEVI

      July 15, 2013 at 1:52 pm

      Color is perfect I will try

      Reply
    11. anusha praveen

      July 15, 2013 at 2:06 pm

      Now that s some thing that i would like to eat with hot rice and ghee. Yumm

      Reply
    12. Anu Shoj

      July 15, 2013 at 5:40 pm

      very nice and yummy kozhambu...nice clicks..
      Anu's Healthy Kitchen - Cucumber Masala Buttermilk

      Reply
    13. Vimitha Anand

      July 15, 2013 at 6:08 pm

      Its my favorite... Looks so tempting

      Reply
    14. Gayathri Ramanan

      July 15, 2013 at 8:26 pm

      my fav too..love to eat it with curd rice...tempting clicks

      Reply
    15. Janani

      July 16, 2013 at 2:35 am

      I love vathakulambhu too its my fav,when had with kootu its at its best nothing can be compared, I have never made it without garlic but this looks good will def give a try to this.

      Reply
    16. Priti S

      July 16, 2013 at 7:03 am

      Always love this and you are tempting me right now so much ...I got same in draft too

      Reply
    17. Veena Theagarajan

      July 16, 2013 at 7:08 am

      super tempting vathal kuzhambu .. Love ur thali

      Reply
    18. JEYASHRI SURESH

      July 16, 2013 at 7:12 am

      Enna oru superana combo. My menu for tom is planned. Pretty clicks

      Reply
    19. Aarthi

      July 16, 2013 at 2:39 pm

      this is my fav..i love vathal kulambu

      Reply
    20. SHARMILEE J

      July 17, 2013 at 4:09 pm

      Alltime fav....this with rice I can have it anytime of the day

      Reply
    21. Chitz

      July 21, 2013 at 7:05 pm

      One of my favs.. I always have extra rice when this is prepared 🙂

      Reply
    22. Yengay Manithargal

      September 20, 2013 at 10:24 pm

      Nice Raks. Easy to prepare too.I know one more variety everything is same but I will fry and grind onion + garlic with this it will give different taste

      Reply
    23. Sreeja A.J.

      April 07, 2014 at 4:30 am

      Hi
      I tried today. never tasted before sundal vatta kuzhampu. Did you powder urad dal, toor dal and fenugreek seeds. so I will do better next time

      Reply
    24. Raks anand

      April 07, 2014 at 4:36 am

      No just add it to hot oil as such.

      Reply
    25. swe

      May 29, 2014 at 4:29 am

      Awesome recepie. . I want to know if I can make this without adding any vathal..

      Reply
    26. snehalathaish

      June 17, 2014 at 6:55 am

      Hi Raks, Itired this recipe and it turned out fine except that it was a bit bitter. What would have been the reason?

      Reply
    27. Raks anand

      June 17, 2014 at 7:06 am

      Sure it will be good.

      Reply
    28. Raks anand

      June 17, 2014 at 7:07 am

      May be its from too much of turkey berry or you have nt fried properly

      Reply
    29. akshaya

      September 12, 2014 at 11:27 am

      hi Raji, no need to add tomatoes in this curry?

      Reply
    30. Raks anand

      September 12, 2014 at 11:29 am

      We usually do not add, but if you want you can add one small after onion

      Reply
    31. sara

      March 10, 2015 at 1:03 am

      Very nice

      Reply
    32. Vanitha Francis

      July 14, 2015 at 10:11 am

      Can this be made with other vegetables like small eggplant. How about addition of ground coconut?

      Reply
    33. Raks anand

      July 14, 2015 at 10:18 am

      You can add eggplant. Coconut can also be added.

      Reply
    34. Shobia Priyatharsini Rajasekaran

      August 18, 2016 at 2:02 pm

      Very nice..thank u for sharing

      Reply
    35. Shobia Priyatharsini Rajasekaran

      August 18, 2016 at 2:02 pm

      Very nice..thank u for sharing

      Reply
    36. Harini

      January 05, 2017 at 1:38 pm

      Hi raji... can i add chilly powder and dhaniya powder if I don't have sambar podi? If so wats the ratio?

      Reply
    37. Raks anand

      January 05, 2017 at 2:01 pm

      Hi Harini, you can try 1 & 1/2 tsp red chilli powder and 1 tsp dhaniya powder

      Reply
    38. ashvitha

      May 25, 2017 at 9:37 am

      how long can we store and have?

      Reply
    39. Manonmani Suresh

      February 05, 2019 at 8:55 am

      Can I try it with coconut paste

      Reply
    40. Raks Kitchen

      February 05, 2019 at 8:59 am

      Yes sure.

      Reply
    41. Vidhu

      March 23, 2020 at 9:06 am

      Hey Raks...thank-you for the recipie. I tried making this for the first time. The gravy tastes superb but the berries are super bitter. Do they usually taste like that?

      Reply
      • Raks Anand

        March 23, 2020 at 9:56 am

        It has slight bitter taste. Let me share some points to note - Make sure you roast it really well while tadka. It should get fried well from the inside. Also if it gets enough spice, tamarind, salt, it wont be that bitter. But the vathal has slight natural bitterness which you cannot avoid. The vathal process also plays a role. Mom usually boils, soaks well in sour butter milk prior and salts well and dries. Hope this helps 🙂

        Reply
    42. Ahalya Manohar

      October 15, 2020 at 3:31 pm

      Hi... I got a question here...
      When the kulambhu is done, are the berries crispy like freshly fried or will it turn soggy as we are boiling it in the kulambhu?

      Reply
      • Raks Anand

        October 16, 2020 at 2:16 pm

        It will turn soft.

        Reply

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    Hi, I'm Rajeswari Vijayanand! I am the person behind Rakskitchen, sharing recipes with pictures & videos.

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