Mor Kuzhambu / Curd curry

Mor kuzhambu is a typical south india gravy prepared occasionally during festivals or special events. The ingredients in the recipe might vary with different region and life style. But the main ingredient being curd and coconut. You can add any vegetable such as Lady finger/Okra, Yam, Ash gourd etc. These vegetable should be cooked separately and then added to the gravy.

Ingredients (4 serving)

Fresh Curd- 200 ml

Ash gourd - 250 g

Coconut wedges- 10 peices

Green chilli- 2-3

Toor dal/ lentil- 2-3 tablespoon

raw rice or any rice-  11/2 spoon

Zeera /Cumin seeds- 1 spoon

Curry leaves- 1 spring

Mustard - 1/2 teaspoon

oil- 4 tablespoon

turmeric powder- 1/2 teaspoon

salt- to taste 

 

 Peal the skin and cut the ash gourd into medium sized cubes. Wash and  bring it to boil with right amount of salt. 

 

It will absorb all the water and turn transparent after 15- 20 min.

 In the mixie jar add coconut, green chilli, rice, lentil, zeera, and 2-3 tablespoon of curd grind it smoothly into a paste. You can add water or curd  for smooth grinding.

  

  In a separate kadai/ wok, add oil, sputter mustard and 1 teaspoon of cumin seed. Add curry leaves, Bring the flame to simmer and then add the ground coconut paste and stir quickly. Add the beaten curd to this mixture and add 100 ml of water of the right consistency of water. 

 Add turmeric powder, the cooked ash gourd and adjust salt. Bring it to boil. But see to it , the curd doesn't cuddle.

Mouth watering Mor Kuzhambu is ready to be served with rice. For side dish yam fry or potato fry is the best choice. 

Karanai kizhangu varuval / Yam fry

Yam or Karanai kizhangu is a root variety found in many parts of India. There are lots of recipes using yam starting from gravy/Kuzhmbu, poriyal, varuval, kootu etc. This recipe i have posted here is my all time favourite and goes well with all variety rice, sambhar rice and curd rice. Here is a quick recipe of the preparation.

Ingredients (4 serving)

Yam - 1/2 kg

Sambar powder - 4 tablespoon

Turmeric powder- 1/4 spoon 

Salt - To taste

Oil - for frying

Peel the out skin of the yam and cut into your desired shape . I prefer it to be thin slices. You can even cut into 1 inch cubes or smaller sizes .

Wash it thoroughly in running water. Dont mess with your hands while washing as it causes itching at this stage. bring water to boil add 1/2 spoon salt  and 1/4 spoon turmeric powder and semi boil the vegetables in it for 10 mins. To check if yam is semi cooked pierce a knife in it. Dont over cook as it will smash the yam and you wont get crispy fried. Remove water and let it drain for 10  mins

Now in a plate take sambar powder or chilli powder , add required amount of salt and add water to mix a paste. Coat the yam slices with the chilli paste and shallow fry in tawa.

Turn sides as you fry fish. Let it turn crispier.

Tawa fried yam is ready  for side dish. The same recipe can be used with little alteration for much crispier one. Make very thin slices and then deep oil fry for a crispier snack item

Ragi Puttu

 

Ragi/ millet once used to be the staple food in villages in south india.  It is very high source of calcium, fibre and even iron and protein. It is similar to mustard/ राइ in texture and color. Traditionally the cereal is washed, rinsed, allowed to sprout overnight and then dried under direct sun before grinding it to a smooth powder. This powder can be stored for months together in a air tight container and used whenever required. You get these powders ready in shop. Variety of dishes using ragi can be prepared like upma, dosa, adai, porridge(kuzhu), pakoda, puttu etc. Ragi puttu is a sweet dish similar to riceflour puttu.

 

Ingredients (2 serving)

 

Ragi flour- 200gm

Sugar- 150gm

Grated coconut- 1 cup

Water - 1 cup

Preparation

 

 

  Take the dry sieved ragi flour in a wide mouth vessel. Sprinkle  water and spread it all over such that the flour is only damp and not wet. you will notice that the volume has doubled. This is how it looks.

 

 

Seive it again

Now wet a clean muslin or cotton (preferably white colour) cloth. Wet and squeeze the excess water from it. Make a pocket in the cloth and add the damp ragi powder into the cloth.

Take a wide mouth vessel/ cooker. Pour 1/2  to 3/4 glass of water.

 

 

Place a porous plate or idli plate.

 

 

Keep the cloth packet onto the plate and steam for 10 min covering the vessel. If using cooker do not keep whistle.

 

 

The steamed ragi powder turns much darker in color. Add grated coconut and sugar to the steaming ragi powder. 

 

Plate it hot!!

Masala Pori / Seasoned Puffed Rice

 

 

मसाला मुरमुरा  Masala pori is a sure shot hit with kids and also with adults. This is one item u wont miss in the beach or near big  temples. Its crunchy, crisp and tickling  ur palate asking for more. There are 2  varieties of murmura, namely salted and unsalted. The salted ones can be consumed directly. The unsalted one gets some finishing touch and converted into chat or other recipe before consuming.
 

Ingredients

Puffed Rice/ Pori/ Murmura - 50g
Roasted Peanuts- handful
Roasted Bengal gram - handful
Dry red chilli- 5
Peeled  garlic cloves- 5
Curry leaves- 1 string
turmeric powder - 2 teaspoon
Salt- to taste
Oil - 4 tablespoon






Preparation

Head kadai, add oil. At right temperature add  crushed garlic gloves. When garlic becomes golden brown and crisp only then add curry leaves, dry chilli, roasted peanuts, Bengal gram dal, turmeric powder.

 Now bring the stove to sim and then add the puffed rice  and keep stirring for few minutes till crisp. Adjust salt if required. Make sure this process is done in sim as puffed rice will loose its texture under high temperature.

 

  Serve hot and even store it even for 3-4 days in air tight container. Very simple puffed rice with konjamtadka in it

Oats Upma

 

 

 

 

Looking for a healthy diet recipe.. here u have oats upma .. very very filling so you tend to eat less. Right and healthy option for weight loss. Also oats has soluble fibre thereby reducing  cholesterol level in the body.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients( 2 serving)

Oats - 100gm
Onion -1 chopped
Carrot- 1 chopped
Olive oil- 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds- 1 teaspoon
red dry chilli- 2 nos.
curry leaves - few

 

Dry roast oats on a dry pan for 3-5 minutes. This will make the upma non-sticky.

 

 

 

Now heat a kadai and add the olive oil. At right temperature, sputter mustard then break the dry chillies into halves and add onto the oil. Add onions and sauté.  When onion turns transparent add the chopped carrot, sprinkle salt and cover it, such that it cooks on its own steam on sim flame.

 

 

 

Open the lid within 2-3 min and give it a stir. Add water (for 1 cup of oats add 1cup of water) and bring it to a boil. Sprinkle the oats and keep stirring nicely as oats observes water soon. Let it cook covered for 2 more minutes. Sprinkle curry leaves.

 

 Serve hot directly or with tomato ketchup.!!