Huli Thove and Majjige Huli - Spiced Lentils and Vegetables in Yogurt Sauce

Huli Thovve is a thick toor dal based curry, made with a freshly ground spice powder. The aroma of  freshly made huli thovve is something else! It is prepared on special occasions like weddings and in our community, is usually served in combination with Majjige Huli (vegetables in spiced yogurt gravy) and had together with rice. Both the curries are just fabulous by themselves but together, they are divine! And there's a particular way to eat this too. You take a morsel of rice, mix in with a bit of each and have it, so each bite is mixed in fresh. They are not generally mixed in altogether like, say, a rasam rice.




Huli Thove Ingredients:

1 cup toor dal, cooked until soft, with a little turmeric
1 cup heerékayi/ridge gourd, peeled and cut into thick chunks (or pumpkin/sakkar kumbalakayi)
1 tbsp grated copra
1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate (about a small lemon sized tamarind) 
3/4 tsp jaggery shreds/brown sugar
salt to taste

Spice Powder:
2 1" piece of dalchini
a few pinches of hing
1 small piece jaikai/nutmeg
1 jaipatre/mace
2 tbsp dhania/coriander seeds
1 tbsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
4-5 red chillies

Tadka: Oil, mustard seeds, red chillies

Heat oil. Sauté cinnamon, nutmeg, mace and heeng. Keep aside.
In the same pan, fry the dals, then coriander seeds and then the red chillies. Let cool and grind the spices with the dals into a smooth powder.
In a pot, cook the ridge gourd (or pumpkin, the only other vegetable typically used in huli thovve) in water, until soft and well cooked.
Add the cooked dal, the ground masala, tamarind, jaggery, copra and salt to taste. Do not make this watery, as this is a thick curry. Bring to a boil.
Make a tadka of mustard seeds and a few red chilies and add on top. 


Majjige Huli Ingredients:
2 cups ash gourd, cut into thick pieces (or cucumber or amaranth greens)
1.5 cups thick yogurt, beaten
4 cups water for cooking the vegetable
1 sprig curry leaves
salt to taste

To grind:
1.5 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 green chilies
3 red chilies
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/8 tsp hing (a few generous pinches)
1 tbsp chana dal (soaked in water for 30 mins)
1/2 cup coconut shreds

Tadka: oil, mustard seeds, a few curry leaves, turmeric, hing

In a pot, heat oil and do the tadka.
Add chopped vegetable, 1 sprig curry leaves and 4 cups of water.
Bring to a boil. Cover and cook until soft.
Once cooked, add ground masala and salt. Let the mixture come to a boil.
Lower the flame and slowly add the beaten yogurt and mix well.