I got married in Kanpur (my husband's home town), & the morning of my marriage my relatives had been offered a breakfast of pooris & pumkin curry along with other North Indian delicacies. You cant imagine, how perplexed I was........idli, dosa, sambar, puttu eating mallus being served pure North Indian food. My mind raced as to what reactions I would be getting from them, saying ........"its just because of you that we have had to go thru this, We had to eat all that food"......."if only you'd chosen a malayalee cherkan (boy)"...Couldnt they have served us some idlis or puttu.........I couldnt put a morsel of food in my mouth. I was anyway going against the wishes of my parents, they were just present there because of my stuborness to marry the guy I had chosen or stay a spinster througout life - the choice was theirs....... Coming back to the venue - after the breakfast was over......I timidly asked one of my aunts, if she had been satisfied with the food......the answer amazed me. She said that the mattanga kootan (Pumpkin curry) was the best she had ever had. I heaved a sigh of relief, & very soon, I had heard the same comment from a few others too.
I later on learnt how to prepared the dish from my MIL & I happily share the same with you all. By the way, even till today I have my relatives praising the mattanga curry!!! So much so that I shared the recipe with them this time when I went to Kerala.
Ing -
250 gm - pumpkin / kaddu / mattanga
1/4 tsp - saunf
a little more than a pinch of fenugreek seeds
1 big onion - chopped
4/5 green chillies
1 tsp - haldi / tumeric / manjjal
1/4 tsp - amchur
250 gm - pumpkin / kaddu / mattanga
1/4 tsp - saunf
a little more than a pinch of fenugreek seeds
1 big onion - chopped
4/5 green chillies
1 tsp - haldi / tumeric / manjjal
1/4 tsp - amchur
1/4 tsp - garam masala
1/4 tsp - sugar
salt as per taste
salt as per taste
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Method -
Chop the pumpkin into cubes along with the skin. Wash well & keep aside.
Coarsely powder the fennel & fenugreek seeds in a grinder. I generally have a small dubba of this masala always ready, which I often put in some veggies.
In a kadai heat some oil & add the onions. Fry till just about pink. Add the powdered masala. Fry for about 1/2 a minute.
Add the pumpkin & salt. Close lid & cook till pumpkins are soft & fully cooked.
Add the haldi, green chillies, amchur, sugar & garam masala
Mix well & fry for about 2/3 minutes till any moisture is dried up.
Serve with pooris or parathas. You can change the chatpata-ness according to your liking by adjusting the amchur & sugar!!!
5 comments:
i learnt to cook pumpkin in a similar way from my n.indian friend. But yours with fennel n fenugreek seems very interesting.... oh i can already smell the fine aroma of the spices:) Is not necessary to peel off the skin? Do they also get cooked well?
Hi Latha - yeah the fennel n fenugreek add a wonderful flavor & you very rightly mentioned the aroma was beautiful when I added them into the kadai!!! No if you get tender pumpkin, it gets cooked very well & also adds some colour to the subzi.
I loved the story of your relatives and the strange food. Such a happy ending! How much garam masala do you add? I want to try this soon.
Fennel and Feungreek flavouring take the bland pumpkin to a newer level altogether! Looks lovely!
nice story too!
Channa - sorry dear. Thanks for bringing it to my notice. 1/4 tsp garam masala will be enough. More than that will spoil the rest of the flavors. Even omitting the garam masala will do fine.
Mansi - Thanks. Do try.
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