Sundakkai have amazing health giving properties, and it is helpful to include it in your diet regularly as a preventative measure for almost everything. We know them here as Thai Pea Eggplants. Dried Sundakkai, or Sundakkai Vathal, (soaked in yoghurt and salt then dried in the sun), retain their health giving properties. They are used in dishes such as Sundakkai Vathal Sambar, and are ground and mixed with other spices for a Sundakkai Vathal Podi (spice mix).

In this recipe, the dried berries are ground into a powder and mixed with rice along with other spices. It is delicious addition to our collection of rice dishes.

Similar recipes include Arachuvitta Vathal Kuzhambu with Sundakkai and Drumsticks, Ghee Rice with Pandanus, Green Mango and Coconut Rice, and Carrot Rice.

Other Sundakkai dishes include Sundakkai Vathal Sambar, and Sundakkai Vathal Podi.

Browse all of our Rice dishes, and all of our Sundakkai recipes. Our Indian dishes are here, and our Indian Essentials here. Or explore all of our Early Summer recipes.

Sundakkai Vathal Sadham | Dried Pea Eggplant Rice | Dried Turkey Berry Rice

ingredients

2 Tblspn Sundakkai Vathal

2 tspn ghee

1.5 cups rice

1 medium red or white onion, chopped finely

5 garlic cloves, chopped finely

0.5 tspn turmeric powder

sea salt

tadka

1 Tblspn ghee

1 tspn mustard seeds

1 tspn urad dal

3 Indian dried red chillies

8 – 10 curry leaves

method

Cook the rice according to your usual method.

Heat the 1 tspn ghee in a pan and saute the vathal until they puff and are slightly golden. Grind them to a fine powder in a blender, or spice grinder.

Heat a small pan with the 1 Tblspn ghee and make a tadka by popping the mustard seeds, then adding the urad dal and the chillies. As the urad dal turns golden, add the curry leaves. As soon as they splutter for a moment, add the onion, garlic and salt, and cook, stirring often, until the onion is translucent and just browning at the edges.

Add the cooked rice, the ground sundakkai vathal and the turmeric powder, and mix well to combine. Pour over the remaining 1 tspn ghee.

Serve with a vegetable fry. Delicious!