Kumbalakayi Sorekayi Huli

Huli is probably the common dish on my family table. We make Huli with everything, vegetables, greens, beans aka pulses and yogurt too. The broad contours of all these Hulis are same, but there will be slight differences here and there. What matters is the combination of the base vegetables. My favorite happens to be the Mangalore soutekayi, Kumbalakayi (pumpkin), sorekayi (bottle gourd) and tondekayi (ivy gourd).

My grandmother's Huli probably took her two hours to make. But I am lazy, I did rather finish my entire day's cooking in two hours! The way she would make it is thus. She would trim and chop the vegetables and cook it till al dente. She would cook the dal separately till soft. Then she would grind coconut and spices into a smooth paste using a mortar-pestle (our own rubbo gundu). Then cook the coconut and spice mixture with other things like tamarind and jaggery. Combine the vegetables, dal with spices and then finish it with some ghee Oggarane. How do I do it? dump dal and vegetables in  the pressure cooker and cook the pre-made spice mixture and then combine everything; finishing with the Oggarane.

There are days when I do make from the scratch,  Arida huli , just the way grandma did it, but it is usually reserved for special occasions. for a regular week day this is it.

We will need,

Pumpkin /Kumbalakayi 1 lb trimmed and chopped into 1"  cubes
Bottle gourd/ Sorekayi 1 lb  trimmed and chopped into 1"  cubes
Toor dal 0.25 cup
Turmeric a pinch
Huli Pudi 2 tsp
Tamarind concentrate 1/2 tsp
Jaggery 1 tbsp
Coconut 1/2 cup (grated)
Ghee 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Dry red chillies 4 (byadagi variety)
Curry leaves a handful
Hing a dash
Salt
Coriander fresh

Method:

• Clean and wash the dal and combine it with 1 cup of water turmeric and a few drops of ghee and pressure cook till done. 
• Combine the two vegetables in a stockpot with about 1-2 cup of water and cook till crisp tender. Else, combine the vegetables along with cleaned and washed dal and turmeric and a few drops of ghee in a pressure cooker and cook till dal is soft (about 2 whistles). (The disadvantage with cooking everything in the pressure cooker is that, by the time dal is soft, the vegetables will be mushy)
• Stir together the Huli pudi, tamarind,  coconut and jaggery with about a cup of water and bring it to a boil. Simmer till the flavors combines and the curry mellows, about 20 minutes.
• Now pour the spice mixture into the cooked vegetables. Add the cooked dal and stir together and simmer.
• Adjust salt.
• To prepare the oggarane, heat the ghee in a small pan. Throw in the mustard seeds, cumin, hing, curry leaves and dry chillies in quick succession. Once they stop spluttering, remove from heat and pour right over the simmering vegetable-dal-spice mixture.
• Finish with fresh coriander. Serve with rice and some papads.