Oh, the comforting aroma of Vendakkai Mor Kuzhambu | Spiced yogurt curry wafting through my kitchen brings back cherished memories of my mother's cozy South Indian home. This delightful yogurt-based curry, a staple in Tamil cuisine, is a timeless classic that never fails to warm my heart and tantalize my taste buds. In this blog post, I share my family's cherished recipe for Mor Kuzhambu, a dish that's as rich in tradition as it is in flavor.
Mor Kuzhambu is one among the favorites of my yogurt based recipes like aviyal, moru kaychiyadhu in south Indian cuisine. It goes so well with vazhakkai masala roast, potato roast or even paruppu vadai or ulundu vadai. It is just as equally scrummy with just appalam and pickles.
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Ingredients
Mor Kuzhambu requires the following ingredients.
- Raw Rice
- Chana dal or kadala paruppu
- Toor Dal
- Green chillies
- Coconut grated or small pieces
- Cumin seeds or Jeers
- Garlic
- Okra or Vendakkai
- Yogurt
- Tempering ingredients like mustard, split urad dal, curry leaves, asafoetida or hing, red chillies, finely shopped onion
- Salt
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make okra mor kuzhambu?
Here are the step by step instructions on how to make vandakkai mor kuzhambu.
Soak raw rice, chana dal, toor dal in water for an hour.
Grind the masala in a mixer - Grated coconut, cumin seeds, green chillies, soaked raw rice, chana dal and toor dal
Wash the okra well, pat dry and cut into 2 inch pieces.
Saute the okra in a teaspoon of oil and add in a little salt once it starts to cook. Keep aside in a plate when it is cooked through.
Add a half a cup of water to the ground masala mixture along with a pinch of turmeric and mix it well and pour it in the pan to start cooking in a low to medium flame.
Add in the sauteed okra to the cooking masala.
Beat the yogurt with water to remove lumps and add it in the pan and cook.
Cook for a couple of more minutes after you start seeing bubbles at the edges of the pan.
Prepare the tempering for the vendakkai mor kuzhambu. In a separate pan, heat 2 teaspoons of oil. When the oil is smoking hot, add mustard seeds. wait for the mustard seeds to sputter, then add split urad dal, a sprig of curry leaves, asafoetida(hing), chopped onion and red chillies.
Add the tadka to the mor kuzhambu mixture and mix it well. The vendakkai mor kuzhambu is ready.
Hint: It is always a good practice to cook the yogurt- masala mixture in low-medium heat. Else, there is a good chance that the yogurt (buttermilk) might curdle.
Substitutions
- Toor dal - you can just chana dal in the place of toor dal.
- Chana dal (kadala paruppu) - you can just use toor dal. For me using both chana dal and toor dal is a matter of personal preference.
- Raw Rice - can be replaced with basmati rice or sona masoori.
- Greek yogurt - You can use homemade yogurt or even store bought buttermilk for this recipe. You may however need to alter the amount of water mixed depending on the thickness of the yogurt or buttermilk. The recipe calls for using slightly sour yogurt/ buttermilk. I have got excellent results with using storebought bulgarian yougurt available at Sprouts and WholeFoods.
- Fresh grated coconut - use dessicated coconut alternatively.
- Indian Green chilli - You could substitute half the amount of serrano peppers in the place of Indian green chillies.
For my vegan friends out there, I have heard from many friends that vegan yogurt can be substituted for dairy yogurt.
Variations
Giving the visitor ideas on how they can change this recipe to better suit their dinner guests, or their cultural cuisine, is a great way to increase the chances they make the recipe
- Vegetable variations - add different varieties of vegetables like white pumpkin aka ash gourd aka vellai poosanikkai , drumstick, spinach, cluster beans (kothavarangai)
- Fruit variations - add pineapple or mango the dish instead of okra for a sweet and tangy
- Millet Incorporated - replace rice with millets like kodo millet, barnyard or foxtail millet for a healthier version.
- Vadai mor kuzambu or paruppu urundai mor kuzhambu
Storage
The recipe keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 days. It also keeps well in the freezer for a month. Remember to cool off the dish completely and store it in a freezer safe container.
Top tip
Mor Kuzhambu tastes best when you use a slightly sour yogurt or buttermilk.
FAQ
Mor Kuzhambu had a lot of probiotic health benefits. Mor Kuzhambu is made with yogurt, which is rich in probiotics. Probiotics are beneficial for gut health, aiding digestion and supporting the immune system.
Kadhi is a North Indian(Punjabi) made with besan (gram flour) and yogurt making it a little thick in consistency. However, mor kuzhambu is very much a south Indian dish. It is made with coconut and buttermilk (sour yogurt mixed with water) which gives it a thinner consistency as compared to kadhi.
Usually, it is best to add salt to the okra when sauteing as well again while cooking the yogurt or buttermilk.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with [this recipe]:
Vendakkai Mor Kuzhambu | Spiced Yogurt Curry
- Total Time: 20 mins
Description
Mor Kuzhambu is a South Indian spiced yogurt curry made with vegetables, spices and coconut.
Ingredients
For the masala:
Raw rice - 1 tsp
Toor Dal - 1 tsp
Chana Dal (kadala paruppu) - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Indian Green chillies - 4
Grated coconut flakes - 4 tbsp
Garlic pods - 3 or 4
For the Vendakkai Mor Kuzhambu:
Coconut oil - 1 tsp
Okra - 10 to 12
Sour Yogurt - ¾ cup
Water - 1 cup ( to mix with yogurt) and ½ cup (to mix with ground masala)
Salt - ½ teaspoon ( for okra) and 1 teaspoon (for curry)
Turmeric - ¼ tsp
For the Tempering:
Coconut oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - ¼ tsp
Split urad dal - ¼ tsp
Curry leaves - a sprig
Asafoetida - a pinch
Red chilli - 2
Onions (finely chopped) - 1 tsp
Instructions
Prepare the Masala:
Soak rice, toor dal and chana dal in half a cup of water for half an hour.
Drain the water in the soaked mixture and add to a mixer jar.
Also add cumin seeds, green chillies, coconut flakes, garlic pods and grind finely along with a little water.
For the Mor Kuzhambu:
Wash and pat dry the okra very well. Cut into 2 inch pieces.
In a pan, add a teaspoon of coconut oil and saute the okra along with half a teaspoon of salt until cooked . Remove it and keep it aside.
Beat the yogurt along with salt, water and turmeric until they are mixed well and without lumps.
Add the ground mixture with half a cup of water and add it to the pan. Cook it in low - medium heat until you see some bubbles forming at the ends of the pan.
Now add in the cooked okra back into the pan.
At this stage, add the beaten yogurt and continue cooking on low heat. When you see bubbles forming at the ends of the pan, turn of the heat.
Prepare the tempering:
In a separate pan, add oil and when the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves, hing and onions one by one. When the onions turn crisp, add it to the Vendakkai Mor Kuzhambu.
Notes
For tempering, wait for oil to become smoking hot. Add the mustard seeds. Wait for it to sputter and only then add the other ingredients for tempering.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Cuisine: South Indian
Keywords: Mor Kuzhambu, Vendakkai Mor Kuzhambu, Spiced yogurt curry, okra curry
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