My grandaunt's recipe for Mango Moar Kuzhambu : Tamil style Ripe Mango Kadhi

My grandaunt's recipe for Mango Moar Kuzhambu : Tamil style Ripe Mango Kadhi

Last week I was in Chennai, I had the good fortune to eat at my grandaunt's place. She is my father's Maami, around 75 years of age and she is one of the best cooks in our family and even a simple weekday meal at her place will pretty much end up being a feast because of the number of dishes on the table.

I remember when as a newly married girl, I went for lunch at her place with my husband, he nearly fell asleep on the table after that grand lunch. Last week, the menu at her place was Maambazham (ripe mango) moar kuzhambu, beans usili, yellow pumpkin olan, pumpkin peel thogayal, keerai masiyal along with rice. Among all the dishes, the mango moar kozhambu was a surprise for me and such a delight for the taste buds. Big chunks of ripe Banganapalli mango steeped in buttermilk mixed with freshly ground spices, mixed with rice was a new kind of high for me. I immediately asked her how she made it and Maami was generous enough to share the recipe with me. Of course she didn't give me exact quantities because they don't measure out ingredients using spoons in our homes. I assumed it would be a handful of this and a bit of that and it turned out beautifully for today's lunch. See that big mango slice intact on my lunch plate below? That's how it should turn out in the end - cooked but intact :-)

Lunch is served

A couple of weeks ago, I made another kadhi using ripe mangoes. That one was Fajeto, a Gujarati style kadhi where ripe mango is ground to a puree and added to buttermilk thickened with chick pea flour. But this recipe keeps the whole mango slice intact and it absorbs the flavours of the curry so beautifully that I'd happily cast my vote for the Moar Kuzhambu over the Fajeto. You must try this recipe while the mangoes are in season. This keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days, so you could make in advance and keep refrigerated for week night dinners as well.

Mango Moar Kuzhambu (Ripe mango - yogurt curry)

Serves 4

Takes less than 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 dried red chillies

Soak the 4 red chillies, cumin seeds, tur dal in some warm water for 30 mins-1 hour and grind to a fine paste along with the coconut, using up to half cup of water or so.

In a wide pan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Cut each mango into two halves, very close to the stone. No need to peel the fruit. Place all 6 mango chunks in the boiling water gently, adding the ground masala to this along with the salt. Bring to a simmer and let this cook for roughly 10 minutes, until mango flesh is soft and cooked but not falling apart.

Add the thinned yogurt to this. Stir gently and bring to a simmer on medium to low flame. Remove from flame and keep aside.

For tempering, heat the coconut oil in a tempering ladle or small kadai. Add the fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, red chillies, mustard seeds. Once mustard seeds start spluttering, transfer this over the moar kozhambu. Serve hot with rice.

Notes:

I'm sure you can do this with any ripe mango, but banganapalli being a variety with generous flesh suits this dish well. Also, it holds it shape well and does not turn into mush on simmering in the curry.

What people who tried this have to say!

@saffrontrail made and ate this:D romba super! The proportions u've told is just perfect... :)

— sowmya (@vishalsowmya) May 30, 2013

Other varieties of Moar Kuzhambu / Mor Kozhambu

The regular one

Morkeerai - a variety with spinach in it