Mor Kozhambu and Keerai Masiyal

I make fresh yogurt now unlike the jars of yogurt that we buy in the US. They sell yogurt here too and is quite tasty, but milk gets delivered to the door. We hardly drink any milk even in our coffee but have to have milk so that other people can drink chai/coffee.... I would have never understood this when in the US, but am sure those living in India would relate to it. Anyway, excess milk leads to excess yogurt. That's taken care of thanks to the 'finish-off' dishes as I call them. Mor kozhambu or Majjige Pulusu to finish off curd/yogurt like fruit custard to finish off fruits. and uttapam to finish of dosa batter. and others like bread upma, idli upma, lemon rice... wow and who said Indians dont recycle.


Mor Kozhambu:

Dudhi: 1 medium sized (or any "water" vegetable like pumkin, chayote)
Onions: 1 large. sliced thin
Tomato: 1 medium
Curd: 1 cup. beaten
Curry and coriander leaves
For the masala:
Green chilies: 4
Ginger: 1 inch
Coriander seeds: 1 tbsp
Jeera: 1 tsp
Roasted chana dal (dalia): 1 tbsp
Grated coconut: 1 tbsp

Fry chilies, ginger, coriander seeds in a little oil and grind with the rest of the masala ingredients.
Peel the dudhi and discard the seeds. Cut it into 1 inch squares and boil in salted water until tender. (Do not overcook as it will turn mushy). Drain and reserve the water for the curry.
Heat some oil, season with mustard and curry leaves and then fry the onions and then add the tomatoes. When soft, add the masala paste and some water and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes. Then add the dudhi and the curd. Boil for about 5 more minutes. Add chopped coriander leaves and serve with hot steamed rice.

One of the wholesome dishes that I remember my mom making often is Keerai Masiyal, although then we just called it Mulai keerai as my mom made Mulai keerai only that way. Now in Hyderabad I dont know if Mulai keerai is available. They have Thota Koora and am not sure what the Tamil equivalent is. We wanted to try some greens other than spinach so I got a lot (Rs.4) of Thota Koora. My mom uses only the leaves for this dish and the stems are chopped up and made into a Poriyal which has a very distinctive and delicious taste and was very special because there was always very little of it. I will post a picture of the stems dish (Keerai thandu as we call it).

Keerai Masiyal:

Thota koora: 4 bunches. leaves removed. save the stems

Garlic: 3-4 pods

Green chilies: to taste

small bit of tamarind or tamarind paste

Boil the leaves along with garlic and green chilies in very little water in a covered vessel until leaves are cooked. It actually gets steamed rather than boiled, so you need not add a whole lot of water. Grind this to a paste with tamarind. Make a tadka with mustard, urad dal and broken dried chilies and add to the keerai.