Madras Style Morkozambu

Time just flies by these days. There are so many things to take care of and all of a sudden it feels overwhelming. Blogging was put in the back burner I guess although there was not a single day that passed by without thinking how irregular I have become in writing down my recipes. Well.. I sure don't want to give up. Its one of the best outlets I have got in a long time and I am not ready to let go of it anytime soon. So, here I am at 11 in the night.. trying hard to stay awake and continue to blog. Now I realize how hard it should have been for all my fellow bloggers to have come this far. Kudos to every single one of them, out there making an effort to give their best.

If there is a very simple South Indian dish with most of the material needed to prepare readily available, I should say it is Morkozambu. The very simplicity of the dish paired with the fact that it can be tailored to ones tastebuds makes it stand out from the rest of the crowd. This was one of my mom's very frequent dishes. Dad, brother and I had different taste preferences. My mom used to go nuts even trying to decide what to get to the table everyday without us killing each other... leave alone the process of preparing it. But this one always came to her rescue. Especially my brother, whose soul is very hard to satisfy, attains its fulfilment when this dish is served. This was universally liked in our household.. no complaints whatsoever. Now on to the recipe that made everyone happy.

Ingredients:

Yogurt / Buttermilk - 2 cups (If using Yogurt, churn it into buttermilk)
White pumpkin - cut into cubes - 2 cups (sauted okra can also be used in its place)
Rice - 1 tsp
Channa dal - 2 tbsp
Green chillies - 3-4 nos
Ginger - 1 inch cube
Jeera - 1 tsp
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Coriander - 1 tbsp (finely chopped)
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 2 tsps
Turmeric powder
Hing
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Soak channa dal, rice, jeera, ginger and green chilles in 1/2 cup water for about an hour.
2. Churn the yogurt adding a little water. Make it into buttermilk consistency.
3. Add turmeric powder, hing and salt to this.
4. Also add the cubed pumpkin.
5. Heat it on a low flame and bring to boil. Mix with a laddle and let boil for 5 more minutes.
6. Grind all the soaked ingredients along with coconut and add it to the buttermilk mix.
7. Let boil till the pumpkin gets cooked and the raw smell disappears. This should take about 7-10 minutes.
8. In the mean time, do tadka with mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves.
9. Add this to the buttermilk mixture. Add the chopped coriander leaves.
10. Let boil for another couple minutes, slowly stirring in between.
11. Serve with hot steaming rice.

This is one easy recipe to make. Very less time consuming and tastes yummy.