Pumpkin Veggie - Indian Style

This post is second in the series of pumpkin treats. My last recipe – Pumpkin choco spice cake was a sweet start for all the upcoming pumpkin featured dishes. I had made a huge cake to last us for 2 whole weeks and it surely had made our meals more interesting 🙂

This recipe is a savory veggie (sabzi) dish made in traditional, Indian style.

As i mentioned in my previous post, pumpkin is also used for making various savory dishes (commonly known as sabzis) in many parts of India. Since India has a diverse food palate, pumpkin preparations are varied. In Southern parts of India, for instance, pumpkin gravy sabzi would most likely have coconut milk and be tempered with mustard seeds and curry leaves. The northern part usually uses cumin seeds to temper.

This recipe is my home style pumpkin veggie recipe. I have always been eating my mom cooked pumpkin this style at home and to my culinary senses, this tastes absolute divine. At our house, this veggie/sabzi is considered a traditional dish and would usually be served with pipping hot pooris (unleavened deep-fried Indian bread) and mint-coriander chutney.

This recipe is my attempt to re-create my home style pumpkin veggie/sabzi. This dish is tangy, spicy and slightly sweet. The combination of all these elements in one dish is simply mouth-watering and addictive. Garnish with loads of coriander and savour it !!

Pumpkin Veggie – Indian Style

Pumpkin veggie Indian style

Servings: 2
Time: 30 mins
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Recipe

250 gms of Pumpkin – cut into 1 inch cubes (remove the hard skin and cut into smaller pieces, would be easier to cook)
2 tsp ginger – grated
2 tsp green chilli – finely chopped

For Tempering

2 tsp ghee(clarified butter) or oil
Pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1-2 whole dried red chillies
1 stick of cinnamon (optional)
2-3 bay leaves (optional)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/4 tsp red chilli powder (can omit as we are already using green chillies)
2 tsp tamarind chutney/ tamarind paste or 1 tsp dry mango powder
2 tablespoons of water
1 tsp sugar (brown preferred) or 1 inch piece of jaggery (omit if using my recipe of tamarind chutney)
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp fresh coriander – chopped roughly

Method

Take a pan/ kadhai. Pour in ghee/oil and let it melt on high flame.
Add in the asafoetida, fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds, whole dried red chillies, cinnamon stick and bay leaves and let the fennel seeds come to a splutter.
Now, add in the turmeric powder, chopped green chillies, grated ginger and saute for a minute.
Now, to the pan, add in the pumpkin chunks, salt and red chilli powder. Mix well, cover with a lid and let it cook on simmer for 15 minutes or till the pumpkin chunks are cooked and tender. Add in 2 tablespoons of water to prevent the pumpkin from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Uncover it in between and mix so that the tempering is evenly coated on all the pumpkin chunks.
Once the pumpkin veggie is cooked, remove the lid and add in the tamarind chutney/ paste, jaggery and garam masala. Pumpkin Veggie is ready.
To serve, remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick from the cooked veggie, add in chopped coriander and serve with hot chapatis, parathas or pooris.

This dish is as good as it looks. The tangy taste makes it really interesting and it goes well even with rice. To me, the flavour from fennel seeds really adds an interesting and very light sweet taste to this dish. The jaggery gets caramalized and imparts a slightly roasted appeal and flavour to the pumpkin which really complements the entire dish.

For all my non-Indian (specially) readers, i am sure you will find this dish very unique and interesting. Made with mostly simple ingredients, you might be amazed with the burst of flavours that this dish contains. While the pumpkin fever receeds, give this dish a try and see the magic for yourselves 🙂

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