Pumpkin Curry

I seem to make a lot of pumpkin curries at home. Just thinking out loud. There's pumpkin pachadi, sour pumpkin curry, olan and parsi dhansak. And that's just on my blog. I do a lot of other pumpkin dishes at home, too. Hmm... Guess I like pumpkin. Do you?


Mathanalserry
(Pumpkin Curry, from Kerala)

1/4 Pumpkin, cut into pieces
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Turmeric
1/2 cup Toor Dal, cooked
2 tbsp Coconut
1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Sugar

Seasoning:
4-5 Curry Leaves
1-2 dried Red Chillies
2 tbsp Coconut

Cut the pumpkin in cubes and cook with chilli powder, turmeric and salt. Add the cooked dal. Continue cooking on a low flame.
Grind the coconut and cumin together and add it to to the cooking pumpkin.
Heat a small pan with oil and add the seasoning ingredients. When the coconut is slightly reddish, add the seasoning to the pumpkin. Stir to combine. Add the sugar and stir together for a few minutes before removing from heat. Serve warm.

Pumpkin Pachadi

A lovely pumpkin curry with yogurt and spices. Sweet and spicy, this curry is great with rice.


Pumpkin Pachadi

2 pieces Pumpkin
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
2 tbsp Coconut, shredded
3 Green Chillies
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/2 glass Buttermilk
1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/2 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1 Red Chilli, split
3-4 Curry Leaves
1 tsp Sugar

Cook the pumpkin with turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Grind the coconut, green chillies and mustard seeds. Add the ground masala to the cooking pumpkin. When it comes to a boil, turn off the heat and add the buttermilk. Season with mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chilli and curry leaves.

Add sugar to the cooking pumpkin. Let it cook until the it becomes a thick curry.

Sour Pumpkin Curry

The sourness of the tamarind combines perfectly with sweet pumpkin. This is a delicious curry that is great with rice for a one dish meal.


Sour Pumpkin Curry

3 cups Pumpkin, cubed
1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
1 tbsp Urad Dal
1 tbsp Peppercorn
1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
2 tbsp Coconut, grated
1 pinch Tamarind Concentrate
1/2 cup Moong Dal

For tempering - mustard seeds, asafetida, curry leaves

Cook the pumpkin with some water and turmeric and set aside. Separately cook the moong dal and set aside.

In a dry saute pan, roast the coriander seeds, urad dal, peppercorn, cumin and coconut. Grind to a coarse mixture.

Heat 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Add the ground ingredients and the pumpkin and bring to a boil. Add the cooked moong dal and let it combine together and cook for 6-7 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the saute pan with a little bit of oil and add the ingredients for tempering. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the tempering to the curry.

Remove from heat. Serve hot with rice or roti.

This is a great addition to our marathon which is going strong. Check out the marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika and Pavani.

Olan

In honor of Vishu, I wanted to post my favorite Keralite dish. The very first time I tasted this dish I fell in love with it.

I've made it many times since, and it comes out perfectly every time. Its really simple and a lovely tribute to Kerala food, thats always slightly sweet and very tasty.



Olan (Pumpkin with Coconut Milk)

1 cup Pumpkin, cubed
3 Green Chillies, julienned
1 Onion, julienned
1 tsp Ginger, shredded
4 Curry Leaves
1 cup Coconut Milk
1 tsp Coconut Oil (optional, and you could use whatever oil is at hand)
Salt, to taste

Cook the pumpkin, chillies, onion and curry leaves in a little water (just enough water to cook the pumpkin).

When the pumpkin is cooked and soft, add salt. Continue cooking until the dish thickens.

When the curry is thick, add the coconut milk and oil. Let it heat together on a low flame for another minute or two. Remove from heat.

Serve with steamed rice.