Majjige Huli / Buttermilk curry

Majjige Huli or Mor Kuzhambu is a southern Indian curry which is of the same consistency of Sambar. One of the main ingredients of this dish is yogurt and it does not have lentils in a large quantity in it. It is mixed with cooked rice and eaten and is a part of the meal on any festival or a special occasion. If you are used to north Indian cuisine, you can relate Kadhi to this dish. One main difference being the use of coconut. I love this dish but for some reason, most of my family is not crazy about it. That was just until few weeks ago. My younger one loved it when I served this to her and she has asked me to make it once a week (it is a different thing that I had to feed her the first few morsels until she developed the taste for it).

Notes:
I have used spinach here, but you could use any kind of squash, cucumber, okra, ash gourd etc.  If using okra, cook it in water mixed with little amount of tamarind juice / extract. Some people add a small piece of ginger while grinding the masala paste. My mother didn't and I like it without ginger. If you are a ginger lover, go ahead and add a 1/2" piece of ginger to this recipe.

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Ingredients: 
Vegetables -  huge bunch of spinach cleaned and chopped (See Notes)
Split chick pea dal / Bengal gram dal - 2 TBSP
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - two generous pinches
Green chillies - 7 -8 as per taste
Cilantro - 1/2 cup chopped
Coconut - 1/2 - 3/4 cup scraped
Cumin - 1 tsp
Asafoetida /Hing - two generous pinches
Yogurt -  1 1/2 - 2 cups (depending on the thickness desired)

For tempering:
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Red chillies - 2 broken

Method:
Soak bengal gram dal or chana dal in water for about an hour. Take the soaked dal, coconut, green chillies, cilantro, turmeric, cumin and asafoetida in a blender jar and blend adding water as needed. Make a nice paste and set aside. In a saucepan, take the spinach (or other vegetables) and cover with just enough water and cook. When the veggies are almost cooked, add the ground paste, salt and more water as needed to bring it to a thick chunky soup consistency. Don't add too much water since the yogurt addition will thin it more than what it is at this stage. Keep it stirring frequently to prevent sticking and burning. Let it boil for 5 minutes. Lower the flame to the lowest setting and add the yogurt slowly. Mix well and you can increase the heat after a minute or two but keep it to medium heat. When it comes to a slow simmer, turn off the heat. Check the salt and adjust if needed.

Heat oil in a small pan and when it is hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add broken red chillies and curry leaves. When the chillies are toasted, turn off the heat and add it to the curry. Mix well. Serve with rice.

Enjoy.

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