Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Yellow 'Sambar'


A
s soon as I noticed that FIC at Sunshinemom's Tongueticklers is going yellow this month as a tribute to the Spring season, I knew what I would post: my daughter's most favourite curry after the quintessential South Indian Sambar, which she calls Yellow 'Sambar.' The main reason that she loves this curry is because it has her most loved vegetable in it, okra/ lady finger/ bhindi/ vendaykka.

While everyone in my family knows this curry by the name 'Moru Curry,' and we do have different versions of this curry with different vegetables, I have also started calling this curry Yellow Sambar now. At home, me and my brothers always loved to have this curry with rice/ dosa/ puttu, and still do! Since my mother is with us for a few days, A was lucky to have this curry made by Amma, her Ammamma.



What always amazes me is the fact that this curry acquires its yellow colour only because of the little bit of turmeric/ haldi/ manjal powder that is added to it. Devoid of it, I would not have been posting this now!

(I had some raw manjal and dried turmeric sticks, and wanted to take a picture of them for this post!)


To make the Yellow 'Sambar'/ Vendaykka Moru Curry seen in the pictures, you will need:

Vendaykka - cut into cubes - 1 cup
Tomatoes - chopped - 2
Onions - chopped - 1
Coconut - grated - 1/2 cup
Ginger - peeled and pounded - 1 tbsp
Green chilly - 1 or 2 - sliced
Buttermilk - 2 cups
Water - 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 strand
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste


Method:

  • In a heavy bottomed pan, boil the chopped onions, tomatoes, okra, green chillies along with salt and half the turmeric powder in half cup of water, and leave to cook covered
  • Grind grated coconut, cumin seeds, ginger and remaining turmeric to a smooth paste and mix well with buttermilk (you can just run them together in a large jar on the mixer)
  • When the vegetables are cooked (ensure that the okra pieces are not over-cooked and don't worry about them getting stikcy/slimy, they don't!), add the buttermilk with the coconut paste, stir slowly over low flame
  • Just when the curry begins to bubble, take it off the heat and stir a little more (if the heat is more, the curry might curdle)
  • Heat oil in a tadka pan, splutter mustard seeds along with curry leaves and season the curry
Serve with hot rice/ dosa/ puttu


The Vendaykka Moru Curry/ Yellow Sambar goes to FIC - Yellow at Sunshinemom's Tongueticklers

47 comments:

Gita Jaishankar said...

The mor curry looks so delicious...lovely color..I never add tumeric in mor kuzambu but I think I should start adding now :)

amna said...

ur pics are looking really good now Shreya :) and i love the way you have called it yellow sambar :)very versatile recipe, i can see..

Usha said...

Looks delicious, we make something similar called moru kozhumbu...I love okra in it too :-)

Suganya said...

Lovely sambar recipe. Looks so good. Nice yummy color. YUM!

Anonymous said...

this looks like something i'd love to try. thanks for ther ecipe.

Daily Meals said...

Nice colour...Looks delicious...

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

wow.. mouthwatering kuzhambu. somewhat similar to our mor kuzhambu.

Unknown said...

looks so delicious..

Vibaas said...

Mor curry looks so tempting.

Cham said...

The moor kuzhambu looks tasty, got a pretty color

Sunshinemom said...

Mor curry is a delicious one! I like the way kids name dishes, things, animals etc. - sometimes they are more apt than the names actually given, and so much simpler too:) I make mor kootan with bhindi but without onions and I like your version too - thanks for sending this to FIC:)

sra said...

We make a similar curry, without the coconut, and as a kid, my brother would call it 'yellow perugu', perugu being the Telugu word for curds! My gran also used to make a rice noodle payasam, and he used to call it 'pamula payasam', meaning payasam of snakes!!!

Clumbsy Cookie said...

And all I need now is a good slice of bread and a big spoon!

Pam said...

Looks so creamy and delicious. What a beautiful color.

Adlak's tiny world said...

wow i love mor kulambu that too with vendakai..hm drooling dear..
thanks for dropping by and lovely words in mine.. do visit more. u have lovely blog..

anything from mom's hand is alwyas beautiful and tastes heavenly....Hm! "Moms cooking" right choice.

Vaishali said...

Shreya, My husband loves anything with bhindi in it, but this sambar is one of his biggest favorites. I make it with soy yogurt. Your version looks fantastic.

Varsha Vipins said...

Hey,Malayali??:)
The name Sambar caught my eyes.cos am such an addict to it..n I can feel the taste of this curry..So yummy n the pics r superb..made me drool Shreya..:)

vidhas said...

Mor Curry , looks yum . We also make similar like this. Yes mom's and grandma's cooking are always delicious. Thanks for dropping by andgor your lovely comments, nice blog, i will keep in touch.

Lakshmi said...

New recipe to me and sambar looks very nice. Loved the color infact.

jayasree said...

Yellow sambhar..nice name. Never tried adding onions to morkuzhambu. Yours looks thick and creamy. Delcious.

notyet100 said...

yummy nd perfet for the event....looks so yum..

FH said...

How gorgeous. Love the root turmeric, gives a vibrant color. Good one, Shreya! :)

Anonymous said...

I love Indian cooking and have a few books, but was unable to find out what Vendaykka is or raw manjal. Can you help with a substitute or English name? Thanks

Anonymous said...

Oops, re-reading, I notice you have okra as the English for vendaykka, but from the photo it looks like turmeric is different from the other root? which looks sort of like galangal.

Yasmeen said...

I love okra,the yellow sambhar looks like a nutritious okra gravy:)

test it comm said...

This curry sounds good!

Unknown said...

looks yummy,seema more or less like morkuzhambu...yummy entry :)

Deepa Hari said...

Mor curry looks delicious...nice entry to FIC yellow.

Deepthi Shankar said...

thatz a yummmm sambar ..

Cynthia said...

Bookmarked as a definite must-make :)

Purva Desai said...

wow!!! Yellow sambhar looks appetizing, turmeric has really good medicinal value....

Unknown said...

I usually make my sambar without veggies but gotta try a vegetable version. Love your haldi click.

Dershana said...

We call this morkuzhambu :-) Just had this for lunch today. Such a flavoursome dish.

Sig said...

lol, yellow sambar is a cute name Shreya! I've never added vendakka in moru curry, even though it is one of my favorite veggies and moru curry is my favorite curry base :)

Nazarina A said...

I am so envious! I wish I could get the dried turmeric sticks here! Shreya, this is a beautiful dish!

Andhra Flavors said...

hey majjiga pulusu chustute argent gaa chesukoni tinali anipistundi.
perfect for that event.

mathew said...

this is first time in my life am seing a raw piece of turmeric..infact never knew that it comes that way..;-P

i love sambhar..and i can easily figure out that it should be lip smacking delcious..

Anonymous said...

Never thought you call this yellow sambar! looks so good with vendakkas in it! :)

Cris said...

Hi Shreya... this looks so good, I am enjoying getting to know more and more about your cooking. Have a great weekend!

Manju said...

my bro had the habit of naming curries after their color! :) lovely blog here..:)

Shama Nagarajan said...

lovely yummy sambar..first time here...lovely blog

Sanghi said...

super mor kuzhambu..! i love them!!:)

Madhavi said...

Oh this curry looks yummmmmmmm, great entry!!!

Chef Jeena said...

This look s lovely and you are so lucky having turmeric sticks wow!

Unknown said...

lovely recipe...i am gonna try it soon. turmeric sticks are hard to find in U.S. thanks to my indian friend (srivani) who introduced me to a great resource called www.myethnicworld.com and i thought that i pass great along as well.

Shreya said...

Thank you all for the lovely comments:-)

Le @HC said...

Beautiful clicks of Yellow Sambhar... Almost like Mor Kuzhambu...