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.

Poopidi

Poopidi – etymology: poo means flower and pidi means fistful in tamil; it is white in colour and is given shape by pressing inside the fist. Sometimes, I use cookie cutter to give it different shapes. This is akkama’s (my paternal grandma’s) delicacy that remind me of her every time I do it; this is one other simple and tasty dish. But there are variants in the same name which I shall share in one of my future posts.

Ingredients:

1.       Broken rice – 1 cup (We call this Upma kappi )

2.       Water -2 cups

3.       Salt as per taste

4.       Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

5.       Pepper – 2 tsp

6.       Coconut chopped finely – 1 tbsp

7.       Oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

Step 1: Heat water with salt in a heavy bottomed pan. When it starts boiling, add the broken rice to it and stir constantly to avoid lumps.

Step 2: Heat oil in a small tadka ladle, crakle cumin seeds, broken pepper in it and keep aside.

Step 3: When the entire water is absorbed, add cumin seeds, pepper and coconut; then mix well and switch off the stove.

Step 4: When it is still hot, make small portions of it into your desired shapes; it can be moulded by pressing inside your fist or by making small balls or by patting them into small patties or moulded in small cups or using cookie cutters shape them.

Step 5: Steam these portions in a steamer and serve hot with chutney or idly podi.

Arisi Adai

Arisi adai in tamilnadu or akki roti in karnataka is a very common tiffin; it is had as breakfast in karnataka and dinner in tamilnadu. I've seen people adding greens in adai (Keerai adai) or carrot and adais are made with ragi flour in the same way. Conventionally, for adais the par boiled rice is soaked and wet ground and cooked partially to get dough consistency before making adais.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1.     Idli rice– 2 cups

2.     Salt as per taste

3.     Carrot – 1 grated

4.     Coriander – 1 tbsp chopped

5.     Green chilies – 1 chopped

6.     Ginger – 1 “piece grated

7.     Oil – 3 tbsp

Method:

Step 1: Wash and soak rice for a couple of hours and grind it into fine batter.

Step 2: Add salt and pour the batter in a non-stick handi and heat it by stirring. It thickens soon, add to it carrot, ginger, coriander, green chilies and a tablespoon of oil. Stir until you get a soft dough like consistency.

Step 3: While the dough is still hot divide into equal portions and roll them into balls. Now there are two ways of making them into circular shapes. On a plastic sheet either grease your hands and pat them thin or sandwich ball between two plastic sheets and roll into a thin disc. This needs some practice and also depends on dough consistency. Do this one by one.

Step 4: Heat the tava, grease some oil over it; carefully toss the adai from sheet to tava.

Step 5: Let it cook for a minute, then with dosa ladle flip it and cook the other side. This wil not brown much but you can see brown spots as in phulkas when done. Cook thoroughly; it takes about 3 minutes for 1 adai.

Step 6: Serve hot with jaggery and ghee or butter or chutney of your choice or pickle or even idly podi. I can have it without any supplement.

TIPS:

* Some people prefer to temper mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafoetida and saute the vegetables in it, mix in the dough instead of adding them raw.

* Some people add mashed stead- rice to get soft and textured adais.

*Instant adais can be made by kneading rice flour with other ingredients. The taste is not comparable to fresh ground wet flour though.