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Recipes with plain curd

5 recipes that use plain curd, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Neer mor (spiced buttermilk), takes 12 minutes. It is most often cooked with coriander, ghee and ginger.

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Neer mor (spiced buttermilk)

From April to June, when Chennai and Madurai bake at forty degrees, temples, shops and political parties set up 'thaneer pandhal' sheds by the roadside, offering free neer mor to every passer-by from great clay pots. At home it comes after a rice meal of sambar and rasam, or in the middle of the afternoon. The curd is churned and thinned with water until barely white, then seasoned with green chilli, ginger, curry leaves, coriander and a pinch of asafoetida, sometimes finished with a tempering of mustard seeds. It should be very thin, salty, tangy and herby, with a little chilli heat and a lingering savoury scent. The common mistake is using too little water: it then drinks like a heavy lassi rather than a thirst-quencher. Aim for about one part curd to four parts water. It is ready when the buttermilk is smooth, cold and pale green-flecked, and smells of curry leaf. It keeps a day in the fridge. Chef's tip: crush the ginger, chilli and curry leaves rather than chopping them; bruising releases far more flavour into the thin liquid.

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Bhaturu

Bhaturu is the breakfast bread of the Kangra and Kullu valleys, made from wheat dough left to ferment overnight with a little old starter or curd until it is light and sour, then rolled out, sometimes stuffed with a spiced lentil filling, and baked on the griddle. It is eaten hot with ghee, a tangy chutney or the madra left from the night before, and is a fixture at village fairs. Ferment it somewhere warm (25–30 °C) for 8–10 hours; it should smell pleasantly sour and be bubbly. Discard the dough if it smells of nail varnish, turns pink, grey or fuzzy, or has a slimy feel. The common mistake is rolling it thin like a chapati, which loses the soft crumb; keep it as thick as your little finger. Chef's tip: cook it on a medium, not fierce, tawa so the centre bakes through before the outside burns.

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Bohar bhaji

For a few weeks each spring, Raipur's markets sell small heaps of bohar, the young buds of the lasoda (Cordia) tree, and they are one of the most prized and pricey vegetables in Chhattisgarh. Cooked with onion, chilli and a spoon of curd, they have a pleasant, slightly sticky bite and an earthy taste, and families eat them with rice and dal for as long as the season lasts. People often skip the boiling step; without it the buds stay gummy and slightly bitter. Chef's tip: if you cannot find bohar, the same masala works with tender lasoda (gunda) fruit from Indian grocers, which is the same tree.

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Pithod ki sabzi

When the vegetable basket is bare, Rajasthani and Malwa kitchens fall back on pithod: gram flour cooked to a thick paste, set in a tray, cut into squares and simmered in a spicy curd gravy. In Udaipur and Indore it is a weekday lunch with phulka or bajra roti, and on wedding menus it appears beside gatte. The common mistake is under-cooking the besan paste; it should leave the pan sides as one mass, or the squares crumble in the gravy. Chef's tip: let the set pithod cool fully, even an hour in the fridge, before you cut it; the squares hold far better.

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Thabdi penda

Rajkot's sweet shops are famous across Gujarat for thabdi, a crumbly, toffee-brown penda that starts as plain milk and sugar and ends, two hours later, as something close to caramel fudge. The milk is boiled down in a wide iron kadai, a spoon of curd splits it slightly to give the trademark grainy texture, and the sugar browns slowly with it until the whole mass is the colour of milky tea. The usual mistake is rushing on high heat: the milk catches and tastes burnt rather than caramelised. Chef's tip: use a wide, heavy pan and a flat wooden spatula, and keep scraping the bottom and sides every minute once the milk is half reduced.

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Goes well with plain curd