Recipe of Dosha Balancing Buttermilk Curry

                                                Buttermilk Curry

Buttermilk curry is a perfect treat for your taste buds. This very versatile North Indian dish is a perfect blend of all the six tastes; sweet, sour and astringent tastes from the buttermilk, pungent taste from the garlic, ginger and chillies, a hint of bitter owing to the fenugreek seeds and salty from the salt. Buttermilk curry  is a perfect companion for steamed rice, when you are just in the mood for something warm and light but having tons of complex tastes.

Ingredients require to prepare Buttermilk Curry:

• 1 Litre (35 ounce or around ¼ th gallon) Buttermilk (at room temperature)
• 2 tbsp chickpea flour
• 2 green chillies (Thai green chillies) reduce quantity or omit to cut the heat
• ¼ inch piece of fresh ginger
• 1 clove of garlic crushed
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cane sugar, jaggery or coconut sugar
• 
  
• For tempering...
• 1 tsp Ghee (Clarified butter)
• 1 pinch of asafoetida powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 7-8 fresh curry leaves
• 2 dried red chili peppers, broken in small pieces
• ½ cup Finely chopped fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Method of  preparing: 

• Blend together buttermilk and chickpea flour with a whisk. Blend till you can’t see any lumps of the flour. 
•  Add green chillies, ginger, garlic, sugar and salt to the buttermilk and flour mixture. 
• In a large pot or a saucepan, bring the blended buttermilk mixture to boil over medium to low heat, stirring continuously. 
• For tempering heat ghee in a small pan. Once the ghee is hot, add cumin seeds and asafoetida. 
• When the cumin seeds begin to splutter, add curry leaves, turmeric powder and dried red chillies and fry for a minute. 
• Add the tempering to the pot of boiling buttermilk and stir. 
• Boil for a few minutes and turn the heat off. 
• Add fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice.

Tips: It is advisable to use fresh and sweet buttermilk for the curry.

Benefits: 

Buttermilk possesses a blend of sweet, sour and astringent tastes and is hot in potency.  It is light, dry, appetizing and sweet in Vipaka (post digestive reaction) and also ignites the digestive fire. It has great alkalizing effects on our body.

Dosha effect: 

Buttermilk alleviates Kapha and Vata Dosha thereby enhancing the action of Pitta dosha and the digestive fire.

Buttermilk is useful in cases of food poisoning, abdominal diseases, piles, sprue, irritable bowel syndrome, vomiting, thirst, intermittent fever, obesity, anaemia, fever, anuria and also other disorders related to the deficiency and imbalance of Pitta dosha. Due to hot potency it is prohibited in hot seasons.

The added spices further enhance the Kapha alleviating action and the added Ghee helps in alleviating Pitta dosha and normalizing the digestive fire.

Buttermilk curry has a perfect blend of all tastes and hence is a great Dosha Balancing recipe. Singularly, each of the ingredients like Buttermilk and the spices may have extreme actions in promoting or reducing a particular dosha. However, This dish has been crafted so beautifully that as a whole it gives a perfect dosha balancing effect. So, if you are craving for buttermilk  in hot summer, try the buttermilk curry instead!

Note- All sour products of milk like buttermilk, curd, cheeses etc should not be consumed at night. Our digestion is very slow at night, hence, these foods are not digested well.