Thakkali and Muringakka Curry

To begin todays's post about Thakkali and muringakka curry I would like to first talk about what curry is in Kerala cuisine.

Curry generally means a red spicy hot gravy in which meat is cooked but curry in Kerala cuisine it also means a gravy mostly coconut based taken along with rice or a sauce or dip for some breakfast dishes and does not always or necessarily mean a meat based dish.

Thakkali muringakka curry is my personal favourite although second to kachimoru. And this is one of the first dishes that I cooked for my husband before marriage and I totally spoilt it. Yes you heard it right before marriage, My husband was living with friends a whole lot of them and most of them were good cooks. I was very much surprised to see so many bachelors cook a good meal complete with fish curry, thoran, etc that too in a foreign land. There were so many of them and all use to come together for dinner and everybody took turns to cook and clean. I also ended up having dinner with them and thus came my turn to cook so my husband asked me to prepare this thakkali curry (minus the drumsticks). So I called my mom to get the recipe but forgot to tell her how many people I was making it for ! And I landed up deciding upon the proportions for myself and I totally spoilt it . It was a lesson well learnt, proportions do matter whether you are cooking for two or many!

So here goes the recipe for this yummy and tangy thakkali and muringakka curry its best when paired with rice.  My husband prefers this without the drumsticks and I like it with the drumsticks. So if you don't have any drumsticks don't worry  they are totally optional. My kids love it too and they have it mixed with rice. Most of the vegetable and meat dishes that you will find on this blog is made to suit our spice level. And we don't have very spicy food our spice level is mild so if you want it spicy hot  you can always increase the amount of green chilles/ red chilly powder etc as mentioned in the recipe.

  

 Thakkali and Muringakka Curry Recipe :

 

Notes:

• If the tomatoes you are using are not tangy enough you can add 1 tbsp of plain yogurt before switching off the flame.

• Once you add the coconut paste and water to adjust the consistency of the curry do not boil the curry for too long this would cause the coconut to separate and you would loose the consistency of the curry. Switch of the flame once you see a few bubbles appearing.