Morekootan

Ingredients:

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• Elavan/Ash gourd - 250 grams,peel off skin and chop into cubes
• Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
• fenugreek powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Turmeric powder - a pinch
• Sour butter milk - 1 cup
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Coconut,shredded - from half of a medium sized coconut
• Green chillies - 3 to 4

If the buttermilk is not sour,use a pinch(say a 1/2 inch piece) of tamarind.

Method:

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• Grind together coconut,green chillies into a fine paste in a mixer.Use buttermilk instead of water in grinding.
• If the buttermilk is not sour,grind tamarind along with coconut and green chillies
• Add the chopped pieces along with turmeric powder in a vessel.Add water just enough to immerse the vegetable.
• Cook covered till the vegetable gets tender.
• Add salt and add the ground paste.Mix well and cook for 5 min on a medium flame.
• On a low flame,gently pour the buttermilk while stirring continuously.
• Add fenugreek powder and mix well.
• Stop stirring.When you observe one or two bubbles ,switch off .
• Temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Serve with rice and papad/porial.

Note:

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• Dot not allow it to boil , as the buttermilk will get separated.
• If you are not using fenugreek powder,using 1/4 tsp of whole fenugreek seeds along with mustard seeds in tempering.
• Ladies finger,tomato,lauki,yam are some of the other veggies that can be used to make morekootan.
• when using yam,add 1/2 tsp of pepper powder and 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder along with veggies while you cook them.
• And when use ladies finger,chop them into 2 inch pieces and saute them in a tsp of oil till it gets semi roasted.Add little water to the sauted pieces and cook them.Then repeat the above process.