Morkali

One of the big frames of my childhood memories is morkali; those tangy, white, ginger flavored, salty, gooey cubes we love to eat for the early dinners. This is another country dish of tamil nadu. Back then when I was in my native village, dinner is served latest by 7pm before the sun goes to bed. Morkali is quite a filling tiffin and easily digestible. Some people like to have it as soft gooey mass while some have it cut into cubes.

Ingredients:

1.       Idly rice – 2 cups (You can also use rice flour)

2.       Sour butter milk – 1 cups

3.       Salt as per taste

4.       Oil – 3 tbsp

5.       Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

6.       Urad dal – 1 tbsp

7.       Channa dal – 1 tbsp

8.       Curry leaves – 1 sprig

9.       Ginger – 1 tsbp grated

10.     Mormilagai – 5 (if not available use 3 dry chilies)

11.     Asafoetida – 2 pinch

Method:

Step 1: Wash and soak rice for 2-4 hours and grind finely using 2cups water. Alternately you can sieve and mix it in 2 cups of water.

Step 2: Add salt, 1 tbsp oil and butter milk to the rice batter and stir well and leave aside

Step 3: In a tadka pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil, splutter mustard, sprinkle asafoetida, add urad & channa dal, throw in curry leaves, ginger and broken chilies. Turn off when the dals are golden brown.

Step 4: Grease a tray or plate with thick boundary with some oil and keep aside

Step 5: Now boil 1 cup water in a non-stick pan and slowly stir in the batter. Keep stirring continuously to avoid lumps

Step 6: Once it becomes as a single lump, add a few drops of oil and now it would start leaving the sides. Turn off the heat.

Step 7: Spread the gooey mass on the tray and let it cool down.

Step 8: Cut them into squares or diamonds and serve plain or with idly podi.

TIPS:

·         The kali is done if you chew a bit of it and that doesn’t stick to your teeth; you can turn off the stove at this point.

·         Rice requires double the water to cook; measure water accordingly in use from that measure water in every process in between. Excess water would spoil the consistency.

·         Sometimes dry flour requires more water to cook; in such case you can try adding ¼ to ½ portions more than given.