Mor kuzhambu or Majjige Huli – A famous South Indian curry with vegetables and freshly ground coconut spice paste simmered in buttermilk. Here is my family recipe with detailed step-wise pictures.

overhead shot of mor kuzhambu placed on a black bowl on a black plate

A Tamil Nadu style vegetarian thali always has vathal kuzhambu or mor kuzhambu in the Thali along with sambar. Even during festivals, weddings, we always make mor kuzhambu along with sambar. It is one of the popular recipes of South India.

I know I am repeating this again, but there is more than sambar in South Indian cuisine folks. Explore the world of South Indian kuzhambu/pulusu/huli and you will definitely fall in love with them. Given any day, I prefer kuzhambu than sambar.

This buttermilk curry in Tamil Nadu is known as Mor Kuzhambu (pronounced as Ku-lam-bu) Mor means buttermilk and kuzhambu mean curry or gravy or stew. In Kannada, we call it as majjige huli. Majjige means buttermilk, and huli means curry or gravy or stew. And in Telugu, they call it as majjiga pulusu or charu. In Kerala, you can find a lot of recipes with buttermilk and yogurt, like puliserry, and an exclusive one is called moru curry. I will share the recipe soon.

I don’t want to compare the dishes, but often mor kuzhambu is compared with North Indian Kadhi. While chickpea flour is the main ingredient in Kadhi, the freshly ground coconut spice paste forms the base of the South Indian buttermilk curry.

By now, you know there are different variations of this buttermilk curry, and today I am going to share my family version, which is more like the Karnataka style one popularly known as majjige huli. I have mentioned in my South Indian cookbook as well as on my blog that my ancestry traces back to Mysuru, Karnataka. I am a Kannadiga born and bought up in Tamil Nadu and my cooking/food is a mix of both these cuisines.

mor kuzhambu in a black bowl with a spoon inside

So what’s so special in this mor kuzhambu. It is of course a dish without any onion or garlic. We usually add chana dal, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, along with coconut and green chilies for the spice paste. My MIL adds ginger and whole pepper and it adds a unique flavor and I add it as well.

How to serve this buttermilk curry-

Like any other South Indian curries and gravies, we serve this kuzhambu with rice. We eat this with rice and any spicy hot vegetable as the side. My favorite combo rice and mor kuzhambu are either stuffed brinjals or stuffed okra, or potato curry.

Other kuzhambu & yogurt-based recipes from my archives-

Brinjal mor kuzhambu recipe with detailed step-wise pictures-

Now without any further ado, here is the detailed recipe for the mor kuzhambu with step-wise pictures. Please refer to the notes for using veggies other than brinjal.

overhead shot of morkuzhambu in a black bowl with curry leaves on the side and with some coriander seeds sprinkled on the side

Prepare the spice paste-

Grind all the ingredients given under “To Grind” by adding ⅓ to ½ cup of water and take it in a bowl.

To this ground paste, first, add the turmeric powder and salt.

Then add the buttermilk and mix it thoroughly. The buttermilk spice paste or mix is now ready.

Preparing the mor kuzhambu | majjige huli-

Heat a pan or kadai and add 2 tsps of coconut oil.
When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, and asafoetida. Let the mustard seeds splutter.
Now add the vegetable; in my case, I went with brinjal. Please refer notes if using other vegetables.

Saute for 3 to 4 minutes and add ½ cup of water and cook the brinjal until it is soft and tender (not mushy). Sorry I missed to click this step picture.

At this stage, add the prepared buttermilk spice paste and reduce the heat to low.

Let it simmer for 8 to 10 minutes or until it becomes frothy and comes to a boil like below. Keep stirring in between so that the buttermilk doesn’t curdle.

Turn off the heat and add one more tsp of coconut oil on top. You can add a few more curry leaves as well. Cover it partially and let the flavors infuse. (PS – Do no cover the mor kuzhambu fully) Initially, the kuzhambu will look pale yellow, but as it cools, it slows gets the bright yellow color.

Serve hot with rice and any spicy dry curry or poriyal.

Recipe Notes-

As always, adjust the spices according to your preference. Ginger and whole pepper add unique flavor, so I always add them. But it’s optional.
Usually, you will find recipes that call for a tsp of rice while preparing the spice paste. I am using roasted gram instead of rice, and that is how my mom and MIL do, and I follow the same. Both rice and roasted gram help to thicken the kuzhambu.
If you are looking for a quick version of mor kuzhambu then, check my instant mor kuzhambu recipe, and if you are looking for mor kuzhambu without coconut, then check my pathiya mor kuzhambu with spinach.
I highly recommend coconut oil for this recipe. But you can use other oil as well.
Sour buttermilk works well for this recipe, but I have tried making it with non-sour varieties and it comes out well. I usually take 1 to 1.5 cups of yogurt and dilute it with water and make the buttermilk. You can use either store-bought buttermilk or dilute the yogurt and use it.
As we are using chana dal, the roasted gram is optional but as I like thick gravy, I always add it.

Veggies used in mor kuzhambu-

We usually add veggies like chayote squash, white pumpkin or ash gourd, okra, brinjal, cucumbers, spinach, etc. After coming to the US, I started adding zucchini and broccoli and asparagus as well. You can add veggies of your choice, but I don’t add vegetables like radish, kohlrabi, etc. as it alters the taste completely.
For veggies like cucumber, zucchini, broccoli, okra, and brinjal, you can saute them and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until they become soft and tender. But for other veggies, you can either cook them separately or add more water and cook for 10 to 12 minutes until the vegetables are soft and tender. The cooking time of the mor kuzhambu varies depending on the veggies used.
I don’t add more than one vegetable variety in the mor kuzhambu. Adding more veggies makes it like spicy avial. :-)

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📖 Recipe

Update Notes: This recipe was originally posted in 2012 but now updated with new pics, and recipe cards.

Mor Kuzhambu | Majjige Huli | South Indian Buttermilk Curry