Vadai Mor Kuzhambu | Buttermilk Curry with Masala Vada

Vadai Mor Kuzhambu, a delicious South Indian style buttermilk curry with masala vadai soaked in it. Mor Kuzhambu is a traditional South Indian buttermilk curry made with varieties of vegetables like okra, ash gourd and many more. 

But in our home, while we grew up, this vadai mor kuzhambu is the only variation that Amma used to make and I absolutely loved it back then and still do ! So far I have never made mor kuzhambu without masala vadai whether the curry has vegetables or not. 

If you haven't tried mor kuzhambu with vadai, then do give it a try ! It's absolutely delicious with steaming hot rice ! 

Can I use urad dal vadai / ulundu vadai / medhu vada in this curry?

Yes, you can ! I have seen many recipes using urad dal vada. But in our home we only used masala vadai.  So I'm more inclined to masala vada than the urad dal vada. 

Can I use buttermilk instead of curd ? 

Even though the curry name has buttermilk in it(Mor means buttermilk in tamil), it's usually made with thick curd whisked into thin buttermilk. But if you already have buttermilk, you can very well use that instead of curd.

Vadai Mor Kuzhambu

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Vadai Mor kuzhambu, Buttermilk curry with masala vada, Paruppu vadai Mor kuzhambu Vadai Mor Kuzhambu, a delicious South Indian style buttermilk curry with masala vadai soaked in it.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Thick Curd - 1 cup

Onion (sliced ) - 2 tbsp

Tomato - 1/2 

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste 

Masala vadai - 8

To Grind 

Toor dal - 2 tsp

Coconut - 3 tbsp

Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp

Red chili - 4 (adjust to your taste)

To Temper 

Coconut oil - 2 tsp

Fenugreek seed - 1/4 tsp

Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few  

Procedure

Soak the toor dal in 1/2 cup of water for 1 hr. Then add the soaked dal and other ingredients listed under "To Grind" into a mixie/ blender jar and grind into smooth paste by adding the needed water and set aside until use.

Heat a pan, add the coconut oil and temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" one by one and then add the sliced onions & saute till the onions are translucent. 

Next add the roughly chopped tomatoes and give a quick stir. Then add 1 cup of water. 

Next add the dal-coconut paste and turmeric powder. Mix it well and then add the enough salt for the curry.

Bring into boil and then simmer the curry for a few mins until it turns slightly thick. Take the curd in a bowl and whisk it smoothly without any lumps. 

Keep the heat in the lowest possible setting and add the whisked curd, give a quick mix  and switch off the flame. 

Transfer the curry into a another bowl and add the masala vada. Let it soak for 5-10 mins and it's ready to serve. 

Tasty Vadai Mor Kuzhambu is ready to serve . Serve it with hot rice ! 

Related : How to make Crispy Masala Vada 

Notes:

• Adding water into the kadai before adding the coconut masala helps to avoid the masala sticking to the bottom of the pan.
• Because of toor dal, the curry tends to thicken quickly so adding enough water ahead is essential. 
• Don't add the dal more than the mentioned quantity otherwise the curry would be so thick.
• Instead of red chili , you can use green chili too for vibrant yellow color curry

 

Continue Reading »

Vadai Kulambu, a spicy and tasty tamarind based curry from South India. Masala Vadai kulambu is nothing but a puli kulambu/kara kulambu with masala vadai in it. The masala vadai added in the kulambu gives great flavor to the kulambu in addition the soaked vadai also tastes awesome. Both puli kulambu and vadai on its own are great but together it's amazing ! 

It's one of my go to kulambu recipe when i'm out of vegetables or bored of vegetables. Besides in our family we like to add this kulambu to the rice and keep the vadai as side for our lunch, so no need to make extra poriyal or sides as mandatory :-) 

Back in days, in our home town, Tiruneveli, around noon, a grandma used to sell vadai. So people in our area who're looking for a change in their routine cooking would wait for her to buy some vadai to add it in the puli kulambu or mor kulambu. How simple is that, right?

Masala Vadai or Paruppu Vadai 

In this kulambu, both masala vadai and paruppu vadai can be added. Masala vadai is usually made from split yellow peas and more spices whereas paruppu vadai is made from chana dal (gram dal)with less spices. Though it has slight variations, in many places, the names are easily interchangeable so it's up to you which vada you prefer in the kulambu 

Here in today's recipe, i have used masala vadai which is more crispier than the  paruppu vadai and also it's my favorite. 

Related: How to make masala vadai/Pattani paruppu vadai

Consistency of the Curry / Kulambu

While making the curry for vadai kulambu, make sure that the curry is little more watery than the preferred consistency of the curry . Because after adding the vadai, it will absorb a bit of curry so it eventually thicken after a while. 

Otherwise you end up with kootu like consistency instead of curry. Lesson learnt from personal experience :-)

Related: How to make Pakoda kulambu 

Vegetables 

Usually while making curry for vadai kulambu, i prefer to avoid any vegetables, only made with some pearl onions and garlic. But if you prefer, you can add drumsticks, it will add more flavor to the curry.

Serving Suggestions

Usually i add only a half of the vadai into the kulambu and serve the rest as it is as sides for more variations.   

Though i prefer to make this curry for simple cooking, sometimes adding a poriyal/veggies and dessert would make this simple dish into delicious meal platter  !! 

Rice with vadai kulambu, rasam, beans poriyal & gulab jamun.

 

Vadai Kulambu | Masala Vadai Kuzhambu

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Masala Vadai Kulambu, Vadai Kuzhambu, Vadai Kulambu Vadai Kulambu, a spicy and tasty tamarind based curry from South India. Vadai kulambu is nothing but a puli kulambu/kara kulambu with masala vadai in it.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Garlic - 4 cloves

Onion - 1/4

Tomato -1(small)

Tamarind - small gooseberry size

Mustard & urad dal- 1/4 tsp

Fenugreek seed - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Salt - to taste

Red chili powder -1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 & 1/2 tsp 

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Masala Vadai - 6 

To grind

Grated coconut - 3 tbsp

Peal onion - 2 

Garlic pods - 1 cloves

Cumin seed- 1/2 tsp

Procedure

Soak the tamarind in a 1/2 cup of water for 20 mins, peel the onion & garlic and chop them roughly into pieces, tomato into small pieces. Heat the oil in a kadai, add fenugreek seed, mustard & urad dal, let the mustard splutter, then add the onion,garlic and curry leaves.Saute the garlic in oil for 2-3 mins. 

Add the tomatoes, give a quick mix & keep the flame in low. Then add the spices(turmeric, red chili & coriander powder),saute them in the oil for few mins. Make sure to not get burnt.

Extract the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind and add into kadai.Put all the ingredients listed under "To grind" and grind into smooth paste by adding couple of tbsp of water. 

Add the coconut paste into kadai. Next add the salt and bring into boil. 

Let it boil until the raw smell goes off and oil floats on the top. Switch off the flame and add the vadai. Let it soak for few mins before serving

Related: How to make masala vadai

Tasty Vadai Kuzhambu is ready to serve. Serve it with steamed rice. 

Related: South Indian Kulambu Varieties

Notes: 

• The vadai has already salt in it, so be careful while adding salt in the kulambu
• Sesame oil gives great flavor to this kulambu, so if you have it in stock, use the sesame oil instead of flavorless oil

Continue Reading »

Masala Vadai, a crunchy & delicious deep fried savory snack made from split yellow peas and aromatic Indian spices. There are so many variations in making this masala vadai. In today's recipe, i'm sharing the basic version of masala vadai, it tastes good with a cup of tea or as accompaniment for your special day meal. 

Back in days when we were school goers, Amma used to make paruppu vadai/masala vada with chana dal and we used to call it as "Aama vadai"/ஆமவடை (honestly don't know the reason for the name ) and it's my favorite and like it more than the medu vada/uluntha vadai. On those deepavali days, i was the one who finishes off all the aama vada. 

Though aama vadai/ஆமவடை tastes so good, it doesn't stay crunchy for longer hours like the one we got from the tea shop/restaurant. The key to the restaurant style crunchy paruppu vada is the use of the split yellow peas/pattani paruppu not the chana dal/kadala paruppu. 

Once knew the secret ingredient , i have been using pattani paruppu/split yellow peas only for making the masala vada . Over the past several years away from home country, i have easy access to the split yellow peas(even walmart/local store carries this in their regular grocery section) than the chana dal, that's the another reason for me using split yellow peas for masala vada.

If you're from South Tamilnadu, you might already knew about another type of vada known as  kara vadai those are made from the combination of chana dal, yellow split peas and urad dal. I have been trying to remake the kara vadai at home for a while now but still  couldn't recreate the exact texture and taste. Once i knew the knack, shall share the recipe here. 

Ok, now coming back to today's recipe, it's such a fool proof vada recipe that even beginners can make this delicious vada without any fuss. Make sure to soak the Pattani Paruppu/Yellow Split Peas for at least 2 hrs and grind into coarse mixture, those are the only two things to be taken care for scrumptious & crunchy masala vada. Now, let's check out on how to make this vada.

Masala Vada | Pattani Paruppu Vadai

Preparation Time : 2 hrs | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Makes : 10 small vadai 
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Masala Vadai, Pattani Paruppu Vadai, Paruppu Vadai, Vadai, Evening Snacks, Savory Snack,Kara Vadai Masala Vadai, a crunchy, delicious deep fried savory snack made from split yellow peas and aromatic Indian spices. There are so many variations in making this masala vadai. In today's recipe, i'm sharing the basic version of masala vadai, it tastes good with cup of tea or as accompaniment for your special day meal.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Pattani Paruppu/Split Yellow Peas  - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1(small)
Ginger - 1 inch
Fennel seed - 1/2 tsp
Red chili - 3 
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Salt - to taste
Oil - for frying

Procedure

Soak the pattani paruppu for 2 hrs . First in a blender/mixie jar, add ginger, red chili & fennel seeds and grind into coarse mixture.

Next drain the water from soaked peas and add into the mixie jar and grind into coarse mixture and add into a bowl.

Chop the onions into small pieces and add into the grounded peas along with curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt. Mix it all well together. Take equal amount of vada mixture and make a ball(I found this way easy to flatten the vada later, but making ball is totally optional step.)

Heat the oil for frying, flatten the vada batter and add into oil gently. 

Cook it on medium flame until it's brown and crispy. Drain from oil and place on tissue paper. 

Tasty Masala Vada is ready. For more tea time snacks and chaat items, check out here 
Notes:

• Cook it in low medium flame for crunchy vadai.
• Grind the soaked peas into coarse mixture for crunchy vadai
• Fennel and ginger gives great flavor to the vada. Highly recommend to use that to recreate tea shop style masala vadai.
  
  

Continue Reading »