‘Nekkare’ – ‘Melastoma malabathricum’ is a common sight in the Western Ghats and the surrounding areas, especially during the rainy season. Belonging to the family of shrubs, it is an evergreen plant growing in tropical and temperate climatic conditions.
Like many other herbs, ‘Nekkare’ too helps in cleaning the digestive system. It is known to cure several ailments and diseases like piles, diabetes, cancer, epilepsy and others.
During the rainy season, our return trip from our native, would usually find our bags filled with these herbs. Yes, it is very important to know them before you pluck one!!! Rainy season is the perfect time to increase our know how on various such herbs. I know a few of these and can manage plucking some if I find them anywhere and one such shrub is ‘Nekkare’. During the monsoons, the Western Ghats is home to streams, mini water falls, flowering plants and lots of herbs. On our way, we halt at couple of places to catch a glimpse of the valley and at the same time, pluck few of them which last for almost a week when refrigerated and can be used in cooking.
For all those who are hearing about this newly, this is how the leaves look like :
‘Tambuli’ is a commonly prepared South Canara style rice side dish, which is not just easy to prepare but great to taste and is healthy too. Today’s recipe is a version of this.
Few other Tambuli recipes :
Timare Tambuli / Brahmi Yogurt Curry
Few other Tulunad/South Canara delicacies:
Tulunad/South Canara delicacies
Let’s quickly look into its recipe:
Total Time : 12 minutes
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 2 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
Nekkare kodi/buds: 2 cups
Buttermilk/Yogurt: ½ cup
Fresh grated coconut: ½ cup
Salt: to taste
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp.
Pepper: 1/4th tsp.
Jaggery: Little
Ghee: 1 tbsp.
Quick Video Recipe :
Method:
- Heat ghee in a pan and add pepper and cumin seeds. Once the seeds start to spurt add the chopped leaves and fry for a few seconds. Remove from heat and let it cool
- Now, add coconut and the above ingredients in a mixer/blender. Add little water and jaggery and grind to a smooth paste. Transfer it to a container
- To the above, add buttermilk and salt. Mix well
- Add a tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves in ghee and add to the freshly prepared tambuli.
Serve the fresh Nekkare Tambuli with hot rice and relish !!!
Nekkare Kodi Tambuli stories :
Rains and Western ghats !!! I have fond memories of them, despite scary nights caused by roaring clouds, shooting thunderlights and shivers down your spine!!! But as they say that chaos is followed by silence and peace, the subsequent day gets so beautiful and colourful that one can easily forget the previous night’s experience!!! When at my native, I follow mom to her little garden to pluck some herbs for the afternoon dish – Tambuli. That little acquaintance with nature brings so much of happiness and learning that once back to the routine life in the city, it takes a while to get along with the city’s hustle bustle again !!!
There are so many herbs that we are unaware of, which are healthy and can easily become a part of our diet. During every visit of mine, I end up learning about new herbs / shrubs. ‘Nekkare’ is a shrub which I can identify anywhere now. The leaves of this shrub with an attractive soft purple flower is very rough. Definitely it is not a great feeling to touch the leaves. But the very fact that it is healthy makes me pluck more of this. Moreover, Nekkare tambuli is so tasty that everyone in my family, including my little one loves it !!! By the way, Tambuli is made out of the tender bud and not the normal leaves.
If you have any interesting recipes using this healthy shrub/herb, please share it with us 🙂 Would love to hear from you 🙂 Keep reading 🙂
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