Pumpkin/Cheenikayi Kalasu:

Pumpkin Kalasu is a traditional recipe of our community. It is a semi solid, sweetish coconut based curry, which goes very well with hot rice or Chapati.

Usually we use tender, greenish sweet pumpkin for this curry, paired with white Kabuli chana.

Ingredients:

Green sweet pumpkin – ½

White chana – 1 cup

Coconut – 1 bowl

Cumin – 1 tsp

Red chilli – 1 to 2

Salt

Jaggery

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tsp

Mustard – 1 tsp

Red chilli – 1

Curry leaves – 1 string

Method:

  • Soak white chana for 7 to 8 hours or overnight.
  • Cut pumpkin into half; remove inner soft pith and seed. Chop this into small pieces with skin intact.
  • Wash soaked chana, put fresh water and cook in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles.

  • When pressure relieves, open the lid and add chopped pumpkin, salt, red chilli powder and jaggery. If needed add little more water and cook until pumpkin is done.
  • Now grind coconut, cumin and red chilli into fine paste by adding required amount of water.
  • Add this masala to cooked veggie. Adjust the consistency by adding water. Consistency should be semi solid. Boil this and add seasoning.
  • For seasoning heat coconut oil, mustard, red chilli and curry leaves.
  • Enjoy this curry with hot rice or Chapati.

 

Pumpkin Tawa Fry

Two years back I had a pumpkin vine in my kitchen garden. We enjoyed so many delicacies from its flower and we used to love the  tawa fry of the flowers a lot. Even now my daughter remembers the taste of it and asks me to make them. Last week she asked me to try pumpkin tawa fry, instead of the flower and it turned out to be absolutely delicious and she was happy too. It is a blend of all kinds of flavours, the sweetness and hing combine to make it a great side dish.

pumpkin-tawa-fry

Here I have used green colored young pumpkin –

Ingredient:

Pumpkin slices – 20

For marinating:

Salt – 1 teaspoon

Hing – ¼ tsp

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

Outer cover:

Chiroti /fine rawa – 3 table spoon

Rice flour – 2 teaspoon

Powdered Hing – ½ tsp

Salt – to taste

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric – ½ teaspoon

Coconut oil – 3 -4 table spoon.

Method:

  • Slice pumpkin into ¼ “thickness, with outer skin intact.

pic-1

  • Put marinating ingredient and mix this and keep aside for 1 to 2 hours.
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Rawa coated pumpkin pieces
  • Take one bowl: mix all the ingredients under outer cover- rawa, salt, rice flour, hing, red chilli powder, turmeric – and mix without adding water.
  • Whenever you are ready to make it, heat iron Dosa griddle, dip each piece in the rawa mix, coat both the side nicely and keep them for frying on the hot iron griddle.
  • Roast both the sides by applying sufficient coconut oil.

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  • It can be served as an appetizer or side dish for a South Indian lunch.

-Hope you will like the dish as much as we did 🙂

Have a nice day! Cant wait to put up more dishes for you 😀

P.S: If any of my ideas inspire you to create something on the similar lines, I would feel highly flattered. But please, do respect the effort I take in conceptualizing and executing, please give a direct link to my work when you are inspired by mine. Thanks for understanding 🙂