Majgehuli

 A simple palette cleanser, this refreshing recipe is our  break from lentil based dishes, like dal, sambar etc. we usually prepare this on a bored too lazy to cook, hard pressed for time  kind of a day. It tastes especially  good with a slightly older, more tangy yogurt or as our previous generation would make from sour buttermilk ( Huli Majge  in kannada).  This buttermilk needs a special mention as it was a by product of gathering butter from cream.

For people who are not aware of this age old tradition, a butter churner  was a common sight in most Indian homes, from the cream collected  over a month from the super thick full fat milk and yogurt, the top layer would be saved and then in a large vessel it would be hand churned to separate butter from  and the residual buttermilk would be used to drink with a dash of salt and curry leaves or used in yogurt based dishes. This homemade butter would be  further melted to make clarified butter or Ghee. Even today some of us do try to carry on this tradition, like we still make our own ghee,  the difference being the store bought butter, since even full fat milk here does not give us any cream.

Majgehuli is a simple recipe, do try it...

This our entry for Green Gourmet hosted by Preeti.


 Ingredients: serves 4

Fresh grated coconut: 1 & ½ cup
Green Chili: 3-4
Cilantro: handful
Jeera: 1 tbsp
Pepper: 1 tsp
Chana daal: 2 tbsp ( soaked for a couple of hrs)
Turmeric: 1/4th tsp
Spinach : (finely cut and cooked) 1 cup
Yogurt: 1 cup
Salt to taste
For tempering: oil/ghee ½ tsp, mustard, asafoetida and curry leaves

Grind the above ingredients into fine paste. Mix the coconut paste and the spinach, add water if too thick and bring to a boil,  lower the flame and add the yogurt , simmer for 5 min.
For tempering: heat 1tsp ghee, add mustard, let it splatter now add asafoetida(hing) and curry leaves pour immediately over the boiling majgehuli. Cover and shut the heat off. Enjoy it with hot steaming rice.