Also known as: The Botanical name of this berry is ‘Solanum nigrum. Manathakkali is called ‘Black NightShade’ in English. In Hindi its called ‘Makoy’ or ‘Manathakkali’. In Telugu its called ‘Kamanchi Chettu
Ingredients:

Manathakkali seeds/berries – 200 grams
Sour Yogurd 2 cups/Sour Butter milk 4 cups
Sea Salt/Rock salt 1 cup
Oil for frying.

Method:

Wash and pat dry them. Do not remove its tender peduncle. It will help holding the berry intact. Add salt and mix them well. Pour generously sour yogurd/sour butter milk on top of this. Store them in ceramic jar…..with a muslin cloth tied at the top. Let it stand for 5-6 hours or so.

Later, remove them from the dip (that is buttermilk/curd) and spread them on clean polythene sheet, each berries having enough gap between. Now sun dry them. (Maybe how long is…it varies from place to place, how sunny is your place.)

Dry them till the berries really turn to dark color and left without any moisture. Store them in air tight ceramic jar. Fry them in little oil, just before serving. It can be used in making ‘kara-kuzhambu’ or ‘Vatha kuzhambu’, ‘Pulusu’.