Nellikaai... Goose berry- the all Vitamin C rich Fruit
As kids in a rural town in Southern India, we had no clue on any of the cadburys varieties of candies and were more exposed to easily available fruits and nuts for less than a rupee.
In my school days, (in the 90s), we always had ground nuts, some of the local berries (Naga pazham- a type of blue berry in India) and goose berries sold in front of our school. It used to cost only 25-50 paise, to get a handful of these :).
We also had a gooseberry tree (bigger variety- more nutricious one) at home. No one planted it, but it gave us huge amount of gooseberries each year. My father would give it to each and every single household (atleast 1 kg per home) but we still will end up having some cases left.
The traditional grandmother's recipe is to soak gooseberries in salted water adding some turmeric powder, for atleast a week. Whenever we needed to make a fresh pickle, these gooseberries are the instant choice prepared in no time for a guest (usually the mappillais: son-in-laws), visiting our house.
Our family later learnt to even dry the gooseberry seeds, and grind them to form a powder, that is of medicinal use and is useful in curing stomach related ailments.
After an hour's play in the street, as children, we used to eat a gooseberry and drink a glass of water, just to enjoy the sugary taste it leaves in your tongue. Now, I am living far away from home and now, just 10 gooseberries are costing 3 singapore dollars.. Whew!!!
My father used to believe that the gooseberry tree is divine, as Adi Sankara blessed a poor woman, who gave him only a gooseberry, with a lot of wealth
Anyway, good food is always what we desire at all times.
Here are two instant recipes I tried with Gooseberries
Wash and Soak gooseberries in salted water with turmeric powder. After a week, these gooseberries will be salted and you can use them to do the below recipes.
1. Gooseberry Thayir Pachadi (Gooseberry in Yoghurt- as a salad dressing or side dish).
Remove the seeds of the gooseberries and grind the gooseberries, with two green chillies into a fine paste. Add yoghurt and salt. You can saute with mustard seeds.
2. Gooseberry Thokku (Gooseberry pickle)- as a Bread spread/side dish for Rice.
Remove the seeds of the gooseberries and grind the gooseberries into a fine paste. Add oil in a pan, and add mustard seeds and hing. Once the mustard seed starts popping add the gooseberry paste. Add 1 table spoon of chilli powder and required amount of salt and reduce the flame and keep stirring.
If you want a longer shelf life, you can add more oil. Once the gooseberry paste gets finely cooked in spices, you will see the oil separating. Now, you can let it cool and store in an airtight container.
We could use it as a spread for sandwiches too :)
In my school days, (in the 90s), we always had ground nuts, some of the local berries (Naga pazham- a type of blue berry in India) and goose berries sold in front of our school. It used to cost only 25-50 paise, to get a handful of these :).
We also had a gooseberry tree (bigger variety- more nutricious one) at home. No one planted it, but it gave us huge amount of gooseberries each year. My father would give it to each and every single household (atleast 1 kg per home) but we still will end up having some cases left.
The traditional grandmother's recipe is to soak gooseberries in salted water adding some turmeric powder, for atleast a week. Whenever we needed to make a fresh pickle, these gooseberries are the instant choice prepared in no time for a guest (usually the mappillais: son-in-laws), visiting our house.
Our family later learnt to even dry the gooseberry seeds, and grind them to form a powder, that is of medicinal use and is useful in curing stomach related ailments.
After an hour's play in the street, as children, we used to eat a gooseberry and drink a glass of water, just to enjoy the sugary taste it leaves in your tongue. Now, I am living far away from home and now, just 10 gooseberries are costing 3 singapore dollars.. Whew!!!
My father used to believe that the gooseberry tree is divine, as Adi Sankara blessed a poor woman, who gave him only a gooseberry, with a lot of wealth
Here are two instant recipes I tried with Gooseberries
Wash and Soak gooseberries in salted water with turmeric powder. After a week, these gooseberries will be salted and you can use them to do the below recipes.
1. Gooseberry Thayir Pachadi (Gooseberry in Yoghurt- as a salad dressing or side dish).
Remove the seeds of the gooseberries and grind the gooseberries, with two green chillies into a fine paste. Add yoghurt and salt. You can saute with mustard seeds.
2. Gooseberry Thokku (Gooseberry pickle)- as a Bread spread/side dish for Rice.
Remove the seeds of the gooseberries and grind the gooseberries into a fine paste. Add oil in a pan, and add mustard seeds and hing. Once the mustard seed starts popping add the gooseberry paste. Add 1 table spoon of chilli powder and required amount of salt and reduce the flame and keep stirring.
If you want a longer shelf life, you can add more oil. Once the gooseberry paste gets finely cooked in spices, you will see the oil separating. Now, you can let it cool and store in an airtight container.
We could use it as a spread for sandwiches too :)
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