Two-Minute Cooking School 6: Majjige Huli

Majjige Huli (Click for bigger pic)

Come on over for dinner! :-)

Note: Unless another language is explicitly mentioned, all non-English words below are in Kannada.

Recipe for Majjige Huli:
Majjige means buttermilk in Kannada. So, majjige huli is a curry made with buttermilk or curds in South India. In fact, some form of this curry is made all over India. The popular North Indian variation is called kadi. This curry may or may not have vegetables in it. I like this curry with ash pumpkin (boodhagumbalakaayi), chayote (seemebadanekaayi), cucumber. I absolutely love this curry with masala vada soaked in it.

Ingredients (with approximate proportions): Kadale bele (Bengal gram or chana dal - NOT chickpeas) a handful and a half, grated fresh coconut a handful, fresh green chillies, coriander or cilantro leaves, mustard seeds, jeerige (cumin), asafoetida, turmeric, salt, oil, curry leaves, dried red chillies, sour curds. You may use buttermilk instead of curds. In the US, I use buttermilk which is sold in cartons. You also need vegetables of your choice: watery vegetables like ash pumpkin (NOT creamy pumpkin), cucumber, certain grouds, chayote work best; brinjals, ladies fingers, drum sticks are alright.

Cooking steps:
Start by soaking the kadale bele in water for about an hour. Use a mixie/blender to grind the kadale bele, grated coconut, green chillies, coriander leaves, mustard seeds, cumin, asafoetida, turmeric and salt into a smooth semi-liquid paste. You may need to add some water to get the semi-liquid consistency.

Cut the vegetables into small pieces. In a cooking vessel, add a little bit of oil and fry the vegetable pieces until they are slightly soft and cooked. Take care not to overcook or burn them. When the vegetables are properly cooked, add the paste from the blender and stir well, adding more salt if necessary. Cook this for about 5 minutes, until the semi-liquid mix is uniformly hot.

Add water to the curds and mix well until it becomes a thick liquid like buttermilk. Add this into the cooking vessel, in which the vegetables and the semi-liquid mix have been cooking. Bring the whole mix to a good boil. You may have to watch the vessel closely because the curd/buttermilk mix might boil over.

In a small cup or vessel, heat a couple of teaspoons of oil. Add mustard seeds to the heated oil. When they start popping, add pieces of dried red chillies and curry leaves. Take care not to overheat or burn the mustard, chillies or leaves. This oil, mustard, chillies, curry leaves mix is oggarane (tadka in Hindi).

Pour this oggarane over the boiling curry in the cooking vessel. Mix well, cover the vessel and boil for a minute more.

Hot, yummy majjige huli is ready to be eaten with hot white rice, and happala (paapad in Hindi) or sandige (vadiyaalu in Telugu) or a spicy pickle.

Reference: Indian Cuisine Glossary
Related: Two-Minute Cooking School: Prospectus