Mor Kuzhambu | Spiced buttermilk curry

Hope you all had a great weekend. Indian cuisine is multifarious.Its innumerable flavors and traditions often find its root in its historic influences. Across the country,cooking is based on the availability of fresh produce and flavor full spices. From North to South ,the cooking techniques and traditions are different.Hence we get to taste a variety of cuisines from every state and every region.

I wonder, slight difference in ingredients makes a great impact in flavors.Are you not getting me ? Just think of buttermilk based curry, how many varieties of kadhis we've got? Punjabi kadhi, Gujrathi Kadhi, Sindhi Kadhi etc.

Here comes a similar recipe from TamilNadu style kadhi called as MorKuzhambu. Mor in tamil means buttermilk and kuzhambu is gravy. This spicy and tangy gravy is served over a bed of steamed rice along with any stir fried vegetables . But the best combination will be rice, mor kuzhambu and beans usili .

The creaminess from the butter milk, richness from coconut and flavors from coconut oil and cured red chillies ( mor milagai ) and not to mention the crisp fried okra chips will make you drool .

Ingredients

Butter Milk  ........................... 2 cups , preferably sour and thick
White pumpkins ..................... 1/2 cup , cubed
Green Chillies.......................... 3 (adjust to your spice level)
Shredded coconut..................... 1/2  cup, preferably fresh
Coconut oil ............................. 2 tsp
Vegetable oil ............................. 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds........................... 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder ........................ 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds ........................ 4
Curry leaves .............................. 1 sprig
Okra ......................................... 10, cut into thin discs
Mor milagai / cured red chillies ....... few
Salt ........................................ to taste

Method

• Grind coconut and green chillies to a smooth paste ,with some water. 
• In a small pan add the pumpkins and little water, pinch of turmeric and salt and cook until done.
• Heat vegetable oil  in a kadai/pan and shallow fry the cut okras and set aside.
• In the same oil, fry the mor milagai / cured red chillies and set aside.
• Heat the same kadai with coconut oil over medium.
• Add mustard seeds ,fenugreek seeds and curry leaves saute for 30  seconds.
• Now add the ground paste, along with turmeric powder and cook for 2 minutes.
• Now reduce the heat to low and add the butter milk, fried mor milagai and cooked pumpkins with its water.
• Let it cook for 5 minutes.
• Remove it from the stove and allow it to rest for 5 minutes .
• Now add the salt and give a quick mix.
• Add the crisp fried okras just before serving.

You can find the onion and methi kadhi here.

Note

• Make sure to reduce the heat to low before adding butter milk otherwise it will curdle.
• Also add salt after it is taken out of the stove to prevent from curdling.
• You can add  few pieces of raw mango that we use to make pickle,if your butter milk is not sour.