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.

Recipe - Maangaa Paruppu Keerai

MAANGAA PARUPPU KEERAI
(மாங்காய் பருப்புக் கீரை)


This is a greens recipe with combination of raw mango. I learnt this recipe from my sister Jayashree

Ingredients

Paruppu keerai (Dall spinach )  (பருப்புக் கீரை) – 1 bunch

Raw Mango (மாங்காய்) scraped into thin flakes – ½ cup

Toor dall (துவரம் பருப்பு)  - ¼ cup

Red chillies (காய்ந்த மிளகாய்) - 2 broken into pieces

Green chillies  (பச்சை மிளகாய்)  - 2 cut into pieces

Mustard  (கடுகு) - 1 tsp

Asafoedita (பெருங்காயப் பொடி) - ¼ tsp
Methi powder (வெந்தயப் பொடி)  - ¼ tsp
Gingelly oil (நல்லெண்ணெய்) - 1 tsp
Salt  (உப்பு) - to taste

Take the oil in a pan, add the mustard and red chillies. When the mustard splutters, add green chillies and the mango flakes. Saute until the mango is semisoft. Add the washed and cut keerai and let it cook. When the quantity of keerai is slightly reduced, add salt and let the mango and keerai cook well. Pressure cook the toor dall and keep aside. Once the mango/keerai mixture is cooked, add the cooked toor dall and mix well. Switch off the stove after this mixture boils for few minutes. Add the asafetida and methi powder, mix well.
This keerai tastes best with hot rice and gingelly oil, but can be had as a side dish to rotis too.