I am a great fan of fermented foods. When the legendary Chithra Viswanathan had posted a picture of this morkali in a forum, I was instantly hooked. The unique thing about this recipe is that the batter for this recipe is naturally fermented. These days, the morkali we know is the “instant” morkali made with a batter of rice flour and sour curd.
CV was very generous to share her family recipe and this is the story behind this amazing recipe.
Whenever amma ground rice for sevai (string hoppers) with puzhungarisi (par boiled rice), amma used to reserve some of the batter for making morkali. The batter was usually fermented for 24-48 hours. One can even ferment it upto 36 hours. The batter stays good and does not rot. When amma was bedridden in her final years, my sister used to have this batter in the fridge at all times, so she could make it at moments notice. However small an amount, the recipe can be made with just enough batter. If made the right way, it just glides down the throat. Its easily digestible too because of the fermentation.
Recipes like these are hard to find. We are slowly losing the art of fermentation in this busy world. Just a little bit of planning and you will have a wonderful and heathy dish that you can make for your loved ones. Here is the recipe for naturally fermented morkali. Its the wonderful soulfood as they say!
Wash and soak the par boiled rice (I used Idly rice) in water for 24 hours. Drain the soaked rice and grind the rice along with coconut and a cup of water. Grind the ingredients in a mixie to a fine paste. Do not grind it to a watery mixture. Grind it to a thick paste. Mix in the salt and set aside to ferment in a draft free place. I allowed it to ferment for 24 hours.
After the time, the batter would smell sour and little foamy. The batter did not foam a lot for me like idli batter does. It foamed very little. Add in about a cup of water to dilute. It should be a thin batter (consistency of a light sauce, thinner than the dosa batter).
Now the tempering! Its a simple traditional tempering that goes in for making the Kali. Traditionally curd chillies (mor milagai) is used. I did not have mor milagai. So used dried red chillies.
Heat oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds. Let it splutter. Add in the split urad dal and split chana dal. Let it slightly brown. Add in the curry leaves, red chillies and asafoetida. Fry briefly for a couple of seconds. Add in the batter. Stir on a medium flame.
Keep stirring the batter. It will keep thickening. Keep stirring until it has thickened well and does not stick to the pan anymore.
Switch off the flame and remove it to a plate. Let it cool. Cut into cubes and serve.
- 1 cup parboiled rice ( I used idli rice)
- ¼ cup coconut
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon peanut oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon split white urad dal
- 1 teaspoon split chana dal
- 2-3 dried curd chillies (mor milagai)
- 2 sprig curry leaves, chopped
- ¼ teaspoon asafoetida (hing), perungayam
- Wash and soak the par boiled rice in water for 24 hours. Drain the soaked rice and grind the rice along with coconut and a cup of water. Mix in the salt and set aside to ferment in a draft free place for 24 hours.
- After the time, the batter would smell sour and little foamy. Add in about a cup of water to dilute. It should be a thin batter (consistency of a light sauce).
- Heat oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds. Let it splutter. Add in the split urad dal and split chana dal. Let it slightly brown. Add in the curry leaves, red chillies and asafoetida. Fry briefly for a couple of seconds. Add in the batter. Stir on a medium flame.
- Keep stirring the batter. It will keep thickening. Keep stirring until it has thickened well and does not stick to the pan anymore.
- Switch off the flame and remove it to a plate. Let it cool. Cut into cubes and serve.
For garnish, I have used sliced green chillies, red chillies, curry leaves and coriander leaves.
Hi just tried this today.. apa , awesome one.. have not hearths receive, but tried tday.. really really awesome as usual.. thanks a lot kannamma…. Tried Ragi kali as well.. it turned out superb.. happiness is my mom and dad loved that very much.. happy terms moment..
Could u pls suggest me good brand and model number of Microwave oven?? Would love to enter into baking world also.. I m zero at baking, but would love to try cakes biscuits from Ur web site.
Thanks Deepa. I do not have a microwave at home.
You can get an OTG for baking. I have heard bajaj is good.
Hi Akka
I tried this morkali, this is so tasty..my husband likes it too. Thank u..
Thank you so much. Really glad that you liked it!
I am HUGE fan of fermented foods. I have been looking for traditional Tamilnadu recipes for breakfast like Kambu koozhu, fermented ragi kanji etc which farmers eat before going off to work. My only option for a fermented breakfast right now is idli/dosai. Can you post more such recipes please? Thank you so much for this delicious recipe!
Sure Sri. Will post soon!
I remember my paati making Morkali in a wrought iron pan. And she’d let the kali get burnt/crispy a bit with some oil so that we could scrape it off the base of the ‘kadaai’ with the ‘karandi’. My grandpa used to love eating it with a little bit of sugar, or some lime pickle. And I loved the crispy flakes that we’d scrape from the pan.
WOW! Thats such a wonderful kitchen memory Srini. So nice!
Why didn’t you use tairu at least 2 table spoon and add water to the fermented Morkali , my Mum does that?
Hi suguna, do we need to add mor to this recipe? Also can I make this in a kadai instead of non stick one. How can I do it without the mixture getting stuck to the bottom of the kadai?
This recipe uses natural fermenting
No mor. Also if using normal Kadai, you might have to use extra oil to avoid sticking.
I have never tasted this before nor have I heard of it.. Tried this out with the blind hope that anything from your website comes out good.. it was a pleasant homely recipe and something that I’ll surely try out again.
Thank you Deep. really glad you liked it.
Hi Suguna,
Should we actually soak the par boiled rice for 24 hours before grinding?
Thanks and regards
You are right. This recipe works on natural fermentation and its important to give time for the fermentation to happen.
This is something I have never tried.So I can’t tell exactly whether it tastes like your original one.But worth trying something different than the usual one.My husband said that morkali tasted good.And as usual the credit goes to you.
Thank You!
thank you mam.
I am surprised morkali didn’t have any mor (buttermilk). I am a huge fan or morkali and we make it frequently at our household, but instead of water to dilute the batter, we use buttermilk and I always thought that’s where the name comes from :). Anyway, huge fan of your posts ! Much love !
This is a naturally fermented batter Ranjini!
awesome and tempting. kindly suggest some baking sets &` tools, i am planning to buy it from amazon.
Can you tell me what you are planning to bake?
cake mam
you can buy some 8 inch cake pans to start with. A hand blender, whisk, silicon spatula, parchment paper measuring cups and measuring spoons. A weighing scale will be useful in the long run. Hope this helps.