Manatakkali Keerai
Greetings to all and today, is an introduction of another green vegetable that has high nutrition. This greens/Keerai is easy to be planted and grown at our backyard or even in the flower pots. It is Manathakkali Keerai or the Black Nightshade which is also commonly known as Sun Berry or Wonder Cherry. Solanum Nigrum is the scientific name and Pucuk Meranti is in Bahasa Malaysia.
It is an annual herb and grows at about 3 metre. It starts with small white flowers and then turns to purple. It also bears fruits as small as pepper (you can see these in the pictures aboves. It starts off green and eventually turns to purple. You can cut the branches of these plants and it will continue to grow and give more leaves.
Manathakkali Keerai has lot of vitamins and is good for mouth & stomach ulcers. The fruit of the plant are of tonic value and serve as an effective laxative. They also improve appetite.
I cook these often for my husband as he has gastric pain, however now it has reduced. I believe Manathakkali has helped him to a certain extend.
The leaves of the plant are mildly bitter, which becomes less after cooking. The Malays here cook these leaves, Pucuk Meranti in thick coconut milk (lemak) with sweet potato. I usually stir fry these leaves. I found out that you can also make chutney with the leaves, at http://theyumblog.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/manathakkali-keerai-thogayal
Let’s go green.
