Neer mor (spiced buttermilk)
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Thin buttermilk with ginger, green chilli, curry leaves and lime, given free to passers-by in summer.
Region: Tamil NaduOccasion: Summer; Chithirai festivals; Rama NavamiTime: 10 minServes: 4Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 cup curd
- 3 cups cold water
- ½-inch ginger, crushed
- 1 green chilli, crushed
- A few curry leaves and coriander leaves, torn
- Salt to taste
- A pinch of hing
- 1 tsp lime juice (optional)
Method
- Whisk the curd with the water until smooth.
- Add the ginger, chilli, curry and coriander leaves, hing and salt.
- Leave it for 15 minutes so the flavours mix, then strain if you like.
- Add the lime juice and serve cool, traditionally from a clay pot.
History
Neer mor ('watery buttermilk') has long been offered at thanneer pandhal, roadside shelters set up by temples, groups and households to give water and buttermilk to travellers in summer.
Significance
It is served with panakam and sundal on Rama Navami and during Chithirai festivals, and giving it to strangers is seen as an act of charity.