Morkolombu

Hello friends ! It's almost a month since my last blog post. I have been quite busy this festive season. Celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi as usual in our ancestral home in Katapady, Udupi district. After our return, it really took awhile for me to get back to my normal routine.

I thought I shall cook up something easy and a healthy dish. I had a large piece of ash-gourd in my fridge. I cut it into half and decided to try this recipe “Morkolombu” from my collection. Unfortunately, this vegetable is not everybody's cup of tea. I too was never fond of this vegetable. But I guess as we mature with age, our tastes differ.  By the way, this humble vegetable is loaded with nutrients. And this dish really tasted delicious.
 

Just for info this vegetable is also called as “Winter Melon”. In konkani, it is called “Kuvaalen” and in kannada it is known as “Boodhi-Kumbllakai” and in Hindi, I think it is known as “Lauki”. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Ingredients:

Ash gourd	About 500 gms
Coconut gratings	1 cup
Green chilies (slit)	2 or 3
Buttermilk	1 cup
Turmeric	1/2
Salt	As per taste
Seasoning ingredients:
Oil	2 tsps
Mustard	1 tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Jeera (cumin)	1 tsp
Pepper corns (crushed)	3 or 4

Method:

1. Wash, peel the skin and de-seed the ash-gourd. Then cut it into big chunks and keep aside.
2. Grind coconut gratings with little water to a smooth paste and set aside.
3. Heat a pot/pan with little water and add the cut pieces of ash-gourd, green chilies, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and allow it to cook.
4. Next add the ground coconut paste into the cooked ash-gourd bits. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Finally add the buttermilk, mix well and allow it to simmer for awhile again and then remove from flame.
6. Morkolambu is ready.
7. For seasoning:
   Heat a seasoning pan and in it add oil and mustard seeds and jeera. When the mustard seeds stars spluttering, add curry leaves and finally add the freshly crushed pepper corns. Remove from flame and pour the entire contents onto the prepared Morkolombu.
8. Serve hot.
   
   

Ingredients

Coconut gratings ground into a paste

ash-gourd bits being boiled with green chilies, turmeric and salt

ground coconut paste added to the boiled ash-gourd

Buttermilk added to the mixture

Seasoning under process

Seasoning added to morkolombu

Preparation time : 20 mins

Cooking time : 20 mins

Serves: 4

Note:

• This tastes good with rice. Similar preparation can also be made with bottle gourd.
• The final dish should not be watery.