Vendakkai Mor Kuzhambu

A little over a year ago, I had no idea what to do with lady's finger except for pachadi and sambar. This summer, I added to my repertoire and can confidently say that I know at least 6-8 ways of cooking this vegetable. And by know, I really mean know.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a bagful of lady's finger in the fridge. A friend, who works with a fresh produce company, brought us another bagful. I'd never seen fresher lady's fingers than the ones she brought us. We enjoyed the vegetable in more ways than one.

Here's what I made on Deepavali. Pandigai saapadu complete with mor kuzhambu. The method of preparation varies a wee bit from normal mor kuzhambu as the lady's finger needs to be cooked in tamarind water.

200g Lady's Finger, chopped into 2" pieces

1 tbsp Tamarind Paste

1-2 tbsp Toor Dal, soaked
1/4 cup Coconut, shredded
1 cup Curds, beaten
1 tsp Urad Dal
1 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
2-3 Green Chillies
1 tsp Oil
1/4 tsp Turmeric
Salt to taste


For the Tempering:
1 tsp Cooking Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
½ tsp Asafoetida (Hing)

7-8 Curry Leaves

Cook the lady's finger pieces with the tamarind water and a little salt. Drain the water when the vegetable is cooked.

Fry the urad dal, fenugreek seeds, and green chillies in the oil. Grind this with the coconut, turmeric and soaked toor dal. Add this paste to the curds and bring the mixture to a boil over a low flame after adding the lady's finger and salt. In a frying ladle, heat the oil and add the mustard and asafoetida. Add the curry leaves after the mustard has spluttered. Add this to the boiling mixture and serve.

We had this with some rice, yelai paruppu, rasam, and potato curry. Find out what my co-runners have been eating: Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Lakshmi, Lakshmi Venkatesh , Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, DK, and Pavani.