Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Moru Kaachiyathu/ Seasoned Butter Milk

        You will always find curd/plain yogurt in some form or the other in most Indian homes. We use it to flavor other dishes, to tenderize meat, or to thicken a gravy and also as a dish by itself.  Butter milk; the byproduct of curd after butter is churned, is considered a great drink.  We have butter milk both sweet and salty. Earlier days on a sultry afternoon, after running errands outside, people prefered to come home and have a sambaram or lassi, as we call it in different parts of our country.   
         Things have changed and, including me,we have caught on to soft drinks and other store bought drinks. However, the use of curd/buttermilk  in curries and as a dish has not waned. The recipe today is an easy one, just an idea of how to season it.  I think this dish probably came about as an afterthought.  After butter was churned people would have considered tempering the buttermilk to replace the lost fat and make it richer.  Now, we add water to thin the curd and use it as buttermilk and season it to our liking.  It then adorns a place on every dinning tables to be drunk or poured in the rice to make every mouthful more tasty.
Spiced Butter Milk

Ingredients:
Curd/ Plain Yogurt - 1/2 Lb
Water - as much you want to think the curd.. you can also make this curry thick without adding any water
Curry Leaves - 1 or 2 sprigs
Ginger - 1 tspn chopped
garlic - 1 tspn chopped
shallots - 1 tspn chopped
turmeric - 1/4 tspn
Fenugreek - 1/8th tspn powdered or 1/4 tspn whole
Salt -  to taste
Coconut or any cooking oil - 1 or 2 tspn enough to temper the ingredients
Dry red chillies - 2
Green chillies - 2
Spiced Buttermilk

Method:
For The Butter Milk:
1. Mix the curd well to make it smooth.  Do this before you add any water or else it's difficult to get an  even consistency.
2. Add water a little at a time blending it to keep it smooth

Tempering
1. Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard and whole fenugreek, curry leaves, red chilli, shallots, green chillies, ginger and finally garlic.  Stirring and cooking for a moment after each addition
2. Add turmeric and if you are using powdered fenugreek then use it at this time.  (Please note you only need to add either whole fenugreek or powdered, not both)
3. Keeping the stove at low to medium with continuous stirring add the buttermilk. 
4. Continue stirring in one direction until the butter milk is heated through and the ladle lifted off the curry will show smoky vapour snaking away
5.  It's important not to over heat because if you do the mixture will curdle because of the heat and look disgusting and taste bad.  If you are new to the process touch to make sure the mixture is warm and switch off the heat. 
Spiced Butter Milk

P.S:
1. If you have tried this before and have had failures and the mixture curdled that is because of too much heat or you did not stir it enough.  You can avoid these pitfalls by stirring continuously in one direction.
2.  If you feel the tawa or vessel used for cooking has over heated during tempering add a spoon or two of water before you add the buttermilk.

Contributor: Sunitha

41 comments:

  1. Thats a yummy "kadhi", seasoned buttermilk...goes good with rice..

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  2. oh...I had mooru kachiyathu yestarday,me being lazy my seasoning is not so elaborate..I love this dish..So simple but very tasty !!

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  3. Simple and delicious!ethinte koode pappadam koodi undel oonu kushal!

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  4. Adipoli pics...kalakki..
    Ente fav...looks sooo yummy gals..

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  5. I do this at least once a fortnight. Very comforting dish with rice and pickles. Your pic looks delicious.

    Chitchat

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  6. Nostalgia - I must say that I have never liked buttermilk as a drink, but I use it a lot as an ingredient. But after reading your wonderful informative post and giving a recipe for homemade; I just might have to give it a try.

    I love all of the post on this blog, because each contributor brings something new to it. Wishing you all gratitude for the great recipes...

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  7. Wow!!!lovely clicks.....Just love to have it with rice and some spicy side dish :).

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  8. Looks delicious da....love to c ur photography...just like a professional photographer!!...especially the first one looks awesome!

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  9. one more delicious recipe...awesome photography...I love the buttermilk..perfect with rice and just to slurp...

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  10. lovely photography.............nice recipe.

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  11. Nice color and superb click...its my fav especially when i am down with fever..

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  12. Dear Sunitha
    Very nice dish. I am going to make it. Photography, as usual, is superb.
    Have a niceday

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  13. lovely dish and anything with buttermilk is my favourite.

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  14. i love it. Nice clicks. we cal it majiga charu...

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  15. We prefer having with buttermilk chilli this gravy! Lovely pic!

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  16. wow!!So delicious!! For a great moru kari fan like me, this dish sure will please the palates!! Great click... :)

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  17. The buttermilk looks awesome...love all the seasonnings on top :)

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  18. Never thought butter milk was used as a curry, lovely photo looks very inviting :)

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  19. This is such a yummy idea. This is like similar to a kadhi but without chickpea flour. This is a better version...lovely.

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  20. its hard to say that whether the pic is more beautiful or the bowl with yummy flavored curd

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  21. My fav and looks tasty! Beautiful click :D
    Actually my hubby is expert in preparing this in summer everyday.

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  22. It looks and sounds so delicious. I love the last photo!

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  23. looks so good and perfect when served chilled

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  24. Looks yummy...
    lovely pictures.
    ...and keep smiling...

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  25. simple & tasty one.My hubby used to prepare this

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  26. First time here. You have an amazing space and recipes here!

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  27. wonderful click...nice presentation dear

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  28. First time here.I always try different types of kadhi..superb presentation :) will be around !!

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  29. wheres is my bowl of kadhi!!!yummyy..super cool snaps!!

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  30. We call this Panna taak in konkani..... I drink buttermilk only if it is sour...... I love this luks detectable :)

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  31. i love this,,,its a nice combination with kerala rice.....and a nice presentation also.......keep going dear

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  32. Wow my all time fav..Great with vanpayar and rice....yummy yummyyyyy.

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  33. Never try this before but the colours look so perfect.

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  34. Thank you friends for stopping by. It's wonderful to have you come over and see what we are upto.

    Learned quite a few new names for this dish Panna taak in konkini, I am hearing that for the first time. Kadhi I am familiar with but din't cross my mind when I started writing. Thankyou again and keep visiting.

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  35. Wow! That looks absolutely amazing! I really love the presentation and all the beautiful photos. What an interesting recipe! I've never thought of making a curry this way, can't wait to give it a try!

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  36. hey this spiced butter milk luks tempting...its nice to have it after lunch

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  37. Yet another variation of moar kuzhambu, just love it!

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