Recipe - Mor Kuzhambu

Mor Kuzhambu
(மோர் குழம்பு)

The mor kuzhambu I am familiar with from childhood is the Thanjavur style mor kuzhambu. Once I tasted this mor kuzhambu made by my mother in law, I started liking it and nowadays I  make either mor kuzhambu depending on my mood.

Ingredients
Beaten curd (கடைந்த தயிர்)  - 1 cup
Besan (கடலை மாவு)             - 1 tsp
Methi powder (வெந்தயப்பொடி) - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida  (பெருங்காயப் பொடி)   - 1/4 tsp
Mustard (கடுகு)                                  - 1/2 tsp
Oil (எண்ணெய்)                               - 1 tsp
Curry leaves (கறிவேப்பில்லை)       - a few
Salt  (உப்பு)                                   - to taste
Turmeric powder (மஞ்சள்ப்பொடி) - a pinch

To be ground to paste
Scraped coconut (திருவிய தேங்காய்)   - 1/2 cup
Green chillies (பச்சை மிளகாய்)    - 2
Jeera (சீரகம்)                      - 1/2 tsp

Grind the ingredients to a paste, add some water, turmeric powder and salt and boil.
Add besan to the beaten curd, mix well to ensure there are no lumps and add it to the boiled coconut mixture. Let this boil for 5-7 minutes. Keep stirring on and off to ensure that the kuzhambu does not curdle.
Take it off the stove, add methi powder, asafoetida. In a pan take oil and add mustard, once it splutters, add the curry leaves take off the stove and pour on top of the methi and asafoetida powder
The flavour of methi powder is the speciality of this dish.
Mor kuzhambu is ready to be eaten with rice and any fried vegetable!

Vegetables that can be added to this kuzhambu are -

White pumpkin/chow chow/colacasia - to be boiled and added to the coconut mixture
Lady's finger/sundaikai it has to be shallow fried and added last along with the mustard.

Seasoning with coconut oil gives a special taste though any cooking oil can be used.