Mor kuzhambu and roast potatoes

The final post for this week's Blogging Marathon, brings you a classic combo from the South Indian state of Tamilnadu - mor kuzhambu (spiced buttermilk gravy with coconut and green chillies) served with a side dish of spicy, roast potatoes. In the Kerala Iyer community, we make mor kuzhambu with ripe plantains and call it pazham (plantain) mor koottan. However, here I have stuck to more traditional vegetables and used ash gourd. Other vegetables that can be used are colocasia/arbi and ladies finger.


What you need
For the mor kuzhambu :
Ash gourd - 1/2 cup, peeled and chopped
Sour curd - 3 cups, beaten well.
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Grated coconut - 3/4 cup
Green chilli - 3
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli - 1, broken

Grind the grated coconut and green chilli, along with half a cup of curd, to a smooth paste.
Add some water to the ash gourd (just enough water to cover the vegetable) along with turmeric powder and salt. Cover and heat until the gourd is cooked. Add the ground paste and let it boil well. Reduce the heat. Add the remaining curd and heat until it just begins to froth. Take care to not let the mixture boil.
Switch off heat. Heat oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, broken red chilli, curry leaves and methi seeds. When the mustard pops, pour this tempering over the kuzhambu.

For potato roast :
Potato -2 large, boiled, peeled and cubed
Oil - 2 to 3 tbsp
Salt
Sambar powder/red chilli powder - to taste
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and some curry leaves. When the seeds pop, add the diced potatoes,  salt, and sambar powder. Stir to mix well and let it roast at low heat, until well browned.

Serve a generous helping of the kuzhambu with rice and roast potatoes on the side.

Seven cup cake - An easy Diwali sweet

 Seven cup cake is one of the sweets that my mother whips up with ease whenever there are guests or even when there aren't. Despite the name, this sweet is neither a cake nor a cup cake. It is in fact, more like a burfi - a very soft and addictive one at that. 

I have always been am scared to try my hand at making Indian sweets - in this case, because, turning out a perfect barfi that will hold its shape, and be not too soft(that will make it a halwa) or too hard (that will ensure that the dentist has a very happy Diwali) requires knowing the precise moment at which the heat is to be switched off.
With this recipe, chances of going wrong are very less(note that I didn't say nil) because it doesn't involve complicated steps like letting the sugar syrup reach a certain consistency or  hours and hours of stirring to get a glossy sheen. On the face of it, the recipe is pretty simple - you mix all the ingredients together, and stir them. The only catch is that you need to know when to take it off the stove. It is all very easy to say when the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan......but without practice, you won't know when the sides are just boiling and bubbling and when they start to sort of curl in to indicate that you can switch off the heat.
This is the first sweet that I have made for this Diwali and I can't help but gloat over the fact that I was able to slice it neatly into pieces and it just melts in the mouth.

What you need:
Besan/Gram flour - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Sugar - 3 cups

Take all the ingredients in a large, thick bottomed kadai. Mix well.

Cook on medium heat. I have pictorially tried to show you the various stages that the mixture will pass through.

When the mixture starts thickening and leaving the sides of the pan, pour on to a greased plate.

When warm, score with a sharp knife into square or diamond shapes.

Once cool, cut into pieces and store in an airtight container.