Winter melon Mor Kuzhambu வெண்பூசணி / தடியங்காய் மோர் குழம்பு

In India vegetarian foods are less expensive and more common. Also the hot weather of India requires people to consume more vegetables. And hence there are a lot of curries in India.

Hubby and myself hail from the non vegetarian family groups, but our stomach loves vegetarian foods often. So does many people from there, wherever we live.

 One yummy curry among them is the more kulambu (buttermilk or yogurt based curd curry). It is a great alternative for the regular dal based sambars and tamarind based curries. 

In most houses we prepare only one curry each day, a vegetable or two along with rice and curd would be omnipresent.  But in economically forward families, it is a practice to prepare a variety of curries like sambar, dal, tamarind based vatral kulambu, more kulambu, curd, along with some vegetables, fries and of course rice too. This vast spread has to be prepared almost everyday for every lunch by the Indian women.  This practice is prevalent even now. Those curries should be prepared in smaller quantities , so that the family could finish it up within a day. Keeping leftovers in fridge is not well received in many Indian houses until today. (But I believe in meal preps, cooking some curries extra for next day lunch etc. But that's me. LOL ). Most hours of an Indian woman would be spent inside the kitchen, even if she is a working woman. That is the hardest part of the Indian culture in my view. But that is kind of changing nowadays, thanks to the education, refrigerator, microwave and empathy towards women.

In India , in most houses the men won't enter the kitchen. If lucky the woman would get help from a maid or some family ladies. Otherwise it is a one woman show and Indian women excel in this. I often tell my sister in law to have meal at her office canteen along with my brother, as I think she is working too much every day. 

Here is a more kulambu recipe I learned from my amma. This is a very easy curry which can be prepared effortlessly. I do this more kulambu more often:)  as my hubby always loves this more :) The traditional vegetable to go inside this curry is white pumpkin. I remember telling my mom , wow what a glossy mirror looking vegetable inside more kulambu ! Amma would say ' it is kannadi kaai ' ' the thadiyangai or the ven pooshani'

Mor or more in Tamil is buttermilk.  Kuzhambu / Kulambu - is generally a curry poured over rice or a sidedish for idli dosa.

Here is my youtube video on 'how to do more kulambu'? If you enjoy watching the the video kindly give it a thumbs-up and that will definitely make me feel happy. Also remember to click the subscribe button and all notification button. Thanks a million in advance !

 Ingredients:

Thick curd (Desi Yogurt) - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
white pumpkin / winter melon - 200 gms
Ginger - 2 inch
green chilli - 2
Bengal gram / channa dhal - 1 tbsp
rice - 1 tbsp
salt - to taste
oil - 2 tsp
mustard - 1  tsp

Urid dal - 1 tsp
Dry red chilli - 2
curry leaves - 1 sprig

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Method:
Start with Soaking dal and rice.

Soak channa dhal and rice for 30 minutes.

Remove skin off white pumpkin. Cut it into big chunks of 2 inch cubes.

Heat 2 cups of water in a cooking pan and add the white pumpkin pieces .Add turmeric and salt to it.

Close the lid and cook at medium heat for 10 mins.  Cook until it is transparent looking but stays in shape.

While the vegetable is cooking,

Grind ginger , green chillies , rice and channa dhal to a fine paste and keep aside.

 Add the masala paste to the cooked winter-melon and stir continuously at low heat for 5 mins or till the raw smell disappears. SWITCH OFF THE STOVE.

Beat the curd and add it to the cooked curry.

Add 2 cups of water (the curry should not be thick as curd. It is a buttermilk curry).

Heat oil in a pan.
Crackle some mustard seeds , add urid dal. As urid turns red , add chopped dry red chillies with curry leaves.  Add this tempering to the above.Garnish with chopped cilantro. 
Yummy Buttermilk curry is ready.

Serving Suggestions:
Serves 4 people. Serve over steamed rice.
Potato fry is a good side dish for More Kulambu. Senaikilangu or seppan kilangu  fries are also very good combo.

More Kulambu with potato varuval

 

Note:

In the grinding masala, adding coconut is a tradition in Tirunelveli and South of that area (definitely Kerala). 

If we have left over coconut chutney (1 cup),  we can easily prepare this curry without grinding the masala.

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தயிர்  - 1 கப் 

மஞ்சள் தூள்  - 1/2 தேக்கரண்டி 

வெண்பூசணி / தடியங்காய்  - 200 gms

இஞ்சி - 2  இன்ச் 

பச்சை மிளகாய்  - 2

கடலைப்பருப்பு - 1 மேஜைக்கரண்டி 

அரிசி - 1 மேஜைக்கரண்டி 

உப்பு  - to taste

எண்ணெய்  - 2 தேக்கரண்டி 

கடுகு - 1 தேக்கரண்டி 

உளுந்து - 1 தேக்கரண்டி 

காய்ந்த மிளகாய்  - 2

கறிவேப்பிலை - 1 கொத்து 

தண்ணீர்  - 2 கப்