Red Pumpkin curry, Yerra Gummadikaya kura (south Indian)

When I look for a particular recipe on line or in the books, I always try to go to as authentic source as possible. I don't often make a curry, as I am spoiled with abundance of Indian, Pakistani and Bengali restaurants in this part of London offering an amazing array of tastes and flavours for a very small price.

But I like cooking different things, and seeing an old Pakistani man in the shop carrying a butternut squash in his hand, I thought to myself, I know he is NOT going to make a Butternut Squash and Roast Pepper soup with that or roast it with olive oil, maple syrup and spices to use in salads. He is most likely going to make a curry with it. Yum, yum I thought and before I started salivating, I promptly went back to vegetable isle and got myself a nice big one too.

Now I did roast some of it with olive oil, maple syrup, thyme and chili flakes to make a salad (recipe will follow) for the lunch with Paula, but the bigger part went into the curry I made. I searched on line and decided on a South Indian version- mild and light with curry leaves and mustard seeds.

 Ingredients: 

Pumpkin – 2cups peeled and cubed

Tomato – 1 big quartered

Onions -2 medium, chopped

Jaggery – 1tsp , grated

Green chillies – 2 

Red chiilies – 2 

Red chilli powder – 1/2tsp 

Turmeric powder – 1/4tsp 

Coriander(dhania) seeds crushed, 1 tsp 

Mustard seeds – 1/2tsp 

Cumin seeds – 1tsp 

Urad dal – 1tsp 

Garlic cloves – 4, chopped 

Curry leaves – 10 

Coriander leaves for garnishing 

Oil – 3tsp

Method:

• Heat    2 – 3 tsp of oil in a pan. Add the mustard  seeds and let them splutter.
• Add cumin seeds,dry red chillies,urad dal,garlic and curry leaves and fry till golden brown.
• Add the chopped onions and fry them till transparent.
• Now to this add 2 cups of cubed pumpkins,tomatoes,turmeric ,green chillies  and salt and let it cook covered on low heat  for 15min.
• Add red chilli powder,coriander powder and jaggery and mix well.
• Add 1/2cup water,  cover and cook on medium heat till pumpkin is soft and cooked.

 

I didn't have any Urad dal, but used a little bit of fried Gram flour to thicken it just a bit. I think this would be very nice cooked with the addition of lentils, chickpeas or other vegetable.