Pumpkin Stew

Erra Gummadikaya Pulusu.

Pumpkin is cooked in water along with sour tamarind, sweet jaggery and red chili powder till little soft. Rice flour is mixed with little water into a smooth paste and stirred into the pumpkin stew to make it thicker. Oil is tempered with spices and added to the pumpkin stew as a final step.

Makes: around 4 Servings of Pumpkin Stew

Ingredients:

Red Pumpkin 1/4 th of Small One
Onion 1
Green Chiles 3
Jaggery 2 (3 inch blocks)
Tamarind 2 – 3 inch sized ball
Fenugreek Seeds a small pinch
Red Chile Powder 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder a pinch
Rice Flour 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Talimpu:
Urad Dal 1/4 tsp
Mustard Seeds 1/4 tsp
Curry Leaves 6
Broken Red Chiles 5
Asafoetida a big pinch
Ghee or Oil 1 tsp

Method of preparation:

Wash thoroughly and chop pumpkin into large chunks.

Pumpkin is generally not peeled for this recipe.

Soak tamarind in quarter cup or more of warm water for sometime and extract all the thick juice.

Peel and chop onion into big chunks or thick slices.

Remove stems, wash and slice the green chiles.

In a small bowl, mix rice flour with couple of tablespoons of water to make thick smooth paste.

Heat a sauce pot on high flame, add red pumpkin chunks, tamarind extract, jaggery, sliced green chiles, fenugreek seeds and a cup or two of plain water.

Bring the water to a heavy boil and reduce the flame to medium.

Let the jaggery dissolve and let pumpkin pieces cook thoroughly while still holding their shape (around 20 min).

Season with red chilli powder and salt and boil for few more minutes.

Slowly stir in the prepared rice flour paste into the pumpkin stew to make it little thick.

Add more rice flour paste if required but make sure the stew is not too thin or not too thick.

Let the stew bubble for a minute before tempering.

Heat oil in a pan on medium flame , add all talimpu ingredients in order.

When mustard seeds almost stop spluttering, add this to the prepared pumpkin stew.

Stir well and serve pumpkin stew with plain steamed rice and dollop of ghee.

Notes: Make sure pumpkin pieces are cooked to the point that they fall apart when lightly pressed.

Suggestions: If the pumpkin stew is too sour, add more jaggery. If the pumpkin stew is too sweet, add more tamarind extract to balance the flavors.

Variations: Pumpkin Curry.

Other Names: Gummadikaya Pulusu Kura, Sweet and Sour Pumpkin Stew.