Oolan

This is my no.1 favorite along with morukootan. This was very much a regular in my house as i used to love this, and another regular was molagutal which is my sister's favorite. This dish is simple,delicious and naturally low in fat. Anytime i visit India and my amma wants to know what i want for lunch, my standard answer is make morukootan with oolan and papadam.. it really trasports me to a happy place and nourishes me when i become the bear and move on to sleep for hours and hours to end. When i get up and i am grouchy, i go to the kitchen and looking at leftovers of oolan makes me smile and i am to another round of pigging out with curd and mango pickle..he he

The recipe is so simple.. here it is

Red Pumpkin - 2 cups
White Pumpkin- 2 cups
Red Lobia -3/4 cup
Green Chillies -2
Coconut oil - 1 tsp.
Salt to taste

Method;

1. Soak the red lobia overnight and pressure cook it till soft. This never gets mushy.

2. Dice the pumpkins in 1" cubes and slit the green chillies in half.

3. In a kadhai, put the pumpkins, green chilly and 1/2 cup of water with 1/2 tsp. of salt and cook till the pumpkins are soft, not too mushy (it does mush a little)

4. Now mash the cooked lobia a little and add to the pumpkins. You can add more water if you feel the dish is too thick.Add remaining salt as needed.

5. When the oolan starts to boil, add in the coconut oil and switch off the gas.

6 Now serve this with morukootan or sambhar.. it tastes soo good.

Notes:

Coconut oil really adds another dimension to this dish, so do use it if you have.

Add minimum water to cook the pumpkins, as they have enough water in them.

You can use one color pumpkin too

The consistency of the dish should be on the thicker side not soupy...but should not be too thick (u guys get it right!!)