Kuzhambus - Gravies of South India!

Morkuzambu without coconut

Dear Ami,
I do not know the cholestrol angle of seeds & sprouts.
For morkuzambu without coconut,mix 1 1/2 tsp rice flour & salt with thick, churned, not very sour , thick buttermilk. If you like, you can grind little ginger & jeera ground, to this. Keep a vegetable like seppankizangu or vazaithandu cooked & ready. Heat the prepared buttermilk on the stove, add vegetables, curry leaves & just when it starts boiling, remove & temper with mustard seeds.
I am getting the recipe of a curry powder ready, after which I shall post the tips on vegetable curries. Some of my recipes are in ozs, palam etc - the conversion to cups is time consuming & I don't want to make a mistake!
Love & regards,
Chithra.

 

Thankyou, Ami

Dear Ami,
Thanks for the feedback.
I hope you made a note that I have posted Tips on Curries, on your suggestion.
Love & regards,
Chithra.

 

Mulagootal - Palghat Famous Favourite !

This is a typical Kerala dish, particularly Palghat. This is very nutritious because it contains mainly vegetables & dhal & absolutely non-oily. This is not a spicy dish. So the side dishes for this are made hot & spicy.

There is no milaku or pepper in this dish, as the name suggests !

A great advantage with this dish is, you can have a big bowl of this with just 2 tbsp of rice! This goes well with chappathi also. In families where traditional cooking is followed, mulagootal is still a side dish for chappathi.

The outline of the preparation which is very simple is – cook dhal, boil vegetables, haldi & salt in just enough water– add dhal & coconut paste, ground as given below.

I will outline the main combinations, usually made.

Dhals:

Mainly tur dhal.

Sometimes, half tur dhal and half moong dhal.

Only moong dhal for keerai mulagootal (this is very tasty particularly).

Vegetables – various combinations.

Few pieces of drumstick can be added to all mulagootals except for keerai & banana stem.

Only white pumpkin – poosanikkai - ilavan (or + chenai ).

Only drumstick.

Only banana stem (or+ koorkai or potato).

Only chenai, (if it is very good & fresh).

Only keerai ( add minimum water & cook – mash well before adding cooked dhal).

Chow chow (or white pumpkin ) + carrots + potato + snake gourd + a small piece of raw banana ( some don’t use this) + chenai + peas or a combination of a few from these.

Cabbage ( only or with potato + drumstick ).

Yellow pumpkin.

Cauliflower with or without peas & or potatoes.

Vegetables not used are – ladies’ finger, cheppankizangu, brinjal, bittergourd & ofcourse, onions & tomatoes!

Ground paste:

In ½ tsp oil, roast 2-3 red chillies, 2 tsp udad dhal, then switch off the stove & add 1/2 tsp jeera. Grind this with minimum 3-4 tbsp of coconut.

Plain red chillies + jeera + coconut.

If you want to avoid coconuts, add freshly grated carrot as a substitute.

Some prefer to add little sambar powder (just ½ tsp), while boiling vegetables &

grind just jeera & coconut.

For white pumpkin (if you are using only that ), grind little rice along with any of the above methods.

For keerai mulagootal, best combination is moong dhal + first grinding combination.

All the other combinations are interchangeable.

The consistency should not be very thick or thin, but medium .

At the end curry leaves are added.

In ½ tsp coconut oil, temper mustard sees & udad dhal.