DHANIYA MOR KUZHAMBU

A festive day is incomplete without Mor-Kuzhambu. A yoghury-based spiced curry, Mor Kuzhambu is also known as Pulissery, Majjige Huli,Majjiga Pulusu in the Southern state is an integral part of a South Indian meal. It is common in the South Indian menu. 

This recipe source is from my MIL's MIL Janaki Paati (My husband's paternal grandmother) Apparently, she has learnt it from her grandmother and the recipe has been passed on from  almost five generations now. Interesting eh! So was I with the history and taste of this yellow South Indian gravy. Trust me, this Mor Kuzhambu really makes you want More and More Kuzhambu 

(Pun intended😉, to whose who understand Tamil). The ingredients used for this recipe are almost similar to Araichuvitta Sambhar 

(Click here for recipe) with slight variations in the tempering. So, you can also call this Sambhar - Mor Kuzhambu.

This was one of the very first recipes that I posted during my first few weeks of blogging. Unfortunately (Fortunately), it got deleted to my dismay that I had to do the content all over again (I am sure my blogger friends will agree upon how hard it is when a posted content is lost😠😦). It is such a pain to rewrite and remember all the phrases we used earlier and for the very same reason I wasn't posting the recipe besides preparing this umpteen times.That was the sad part though. The good part is that I was able to give a face lift to the photography part that I feel satisfied about.Oh!  And most importantly this came as a recipe request from one of my school mates and that was also a motivation factor for this post. 

Read on for the recipe.

Preparation time:10 min
Cooking time: 15 min
Category: Main course
Cuisine: South Indian
Difficulty Level: Easy
Spice Level: Medium
Serves: 4-6
Source: Janaki Paati

Nutrition Facts
Servings 7.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 147
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 10 g	15 %
Saturated Fat 6 g	31 %
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 3 mg	1 %
Sodium 170 mg	7 %
Potassium 108 mg	3 %
Total Carbohydrate 9 g	3 %
Dietary Fiber 2 g	9 %
Sugars 4 g
Protein 8 g	15 %
Vitamin A	3 %
Vitamin C	3 %
Calcium	2 %
Iron	3 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

INGREDIENTS
Lentils
Soak in 1/4 cup water

• 1 tbsp Channa Dhal
• 1 tbsp Toor Dhal
• 1/4 tsp raw rice

 Spices and Oil

• 2-3 tbsp Coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp Chana dhal
• 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
• 2-3 flakes compounded Asafoetida
• 3 tbsp grated coconut
• 3-4 Red chillies
• 1 tsp Mustard seeds
• 1 tsp split Urad dhal
• 3 tbsp cold pressed Coconut oil
• 1 tsp Peanut oil

Vegetable, Dairy and Others

• 2 small Carrots/  4 Egg plants/1/2 Chayote/ 8-10 boiled Taro/ 8-10  White or Yellow Pumpkin cubes/ 2 Potatoes Cubed / 8-10 Ladies Finger or a choice based mix of these (see notes)
• 500 gm thick Homemade Yogurt( Not too sour not too bland made from Fresh or Full cream milk)
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (optional , See notes)
• 1 tbsp Sour cream  optional but recommended)
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric
• 2 Sprigs Curry leaves
• Chopped Coriander for garnish ( optional)
• Salt to taste

METHOD

• Soak Chana dhal+ Toor Dhal+ rice in water and keep aside for 15 min. 
• First, wash , clean, peel and cube the vegetables. Heat a clay pot like the one you see in the picture or use a thick bottomed vessel. 
• Add 1/4 cup water and a few granules of crystal salt. Add the vegetable chunks and close with a lid. Let it cook and soften. Once done, drain and cool. Use the reserved water to grind spice paste.
• Meanwhile prepare the dairy mix. Whisk homemade and Greek yogurt lightly. Add salt and turmeric and set aside. Whisk the sour cream and keep aside to be added later.
• Add cooked vegetables into Yogurt.
• Heat 1 tsp oil in a Kadai and first roast Asafoetida . When it puffs up add Coariander seeds, Chana Dhal, Cumin, Fenugreek and red chillies until golden and fragrant. Turn off the heat and add Coconut. Cool this and powder it.
• Add the soaked lentil and rice with reserved water into the powdered mix and grind to a paste. This paste is similar to Araichuvitta Sambhar masala paste in flavour and consistency. 
• Mix this paste into the prepared Yogurt mixture along with few curry leaves. 
• Once you are done with preparing the spice and lentil paste, vegetables and dairy, the next step is to gently cook this mixture on stove top. 
• Heat this mixture on low medium flame. Let it gently froth on the sides to become homogeneous and ensure that raw flavour disappears. The cook time is a maximum of 6-8 minutes. 
• Remove it from heat. Add the whisked sour cream.
• In a separate pan heat Coconut oil. When hot, pop mustard seeds, split urad dhal, red chillies (if you prefer more spice) and curry leaves. 
• Do not separate curry leaves from its twig. Once the dhal turns golden and the rest of the things sizzle add into the yogurt mix. 
• The moment this happens the kitchen turns aromatic and I bet your gastric juices will be triggered. 
• Your Mor Kuzhambu is ready to be devoured now.  

NOTES

•  Since addition of salt is done prior to cooking, you can easily gauge it beforehand and also cut off  prolonged boiling and flavour loss.
• If you seriously don't mind a few extra calories, please increase the quantity of Coconut oil to up to 5 tbsps. The more, the merrier. Its just an extra dose of Medium Chain Triglycerides and is totally good.
• This Kuzhambu tends to thicken on cooling as it has a good dose of lentils as thickeners. 
• If you prefer a lighter and a slightly thinner gravy (not super thin), exclude the lentil soaking part. Lentils in the spice paste will suffice. You can cut down on the chillies in this case.
• I  strongly recommend you to use Fresh or Full cream milk for making Yoghurt. For heaven's sake do not use 2%, 1 % or skim milk. You will NOT get the desired result with the measurements given above for the spice base, if you do so. 
• If you cannot source Greek Yogurt or sour cream, use 1/4 cup of hung curd as a replacement.
• Coming to vegetables- the ones I have mentioned in the ingredients are best suited for this version of Mor Kuzhambu. You can increase or decrease the number of red chillies and salt based on the vegetable you are using and of course the quantity you are planning to make. 
• Also, do not forget to cook the vegetables with a dash of salt. It helps in better flavour infusion. Addition of Coriander leaves is optional yet not preferred as it weakens the aroma of the curry.
• Serve it hot with rice topped up with a dollop of ghee and any spicy curry, Thogayal and of course Appalams or Vadams.