Pumpkin Erissery - Kerala cuisine

I know its been ages since I have blogged, some how not been updating either. Hence I thought I will blog about the food I eat and enjoy on daily basis. Pumpkin errisery ( mathan erissery ) is my family favorite. The mild sweetness of the pumpkin, the coconut flavour of the gravy and finally the crisp fried thinly sliced shallot add to the aroma and the yumminess of the whole dish. So here goes my way of making pumpkin erriserry  

Ingredients 

Pumpkin cut into cubes- 1 cup 

Moong dal ( roasted) - 1/2 cup

Grated coconut - 1/3 cup

Jeera (cumin)  - 1 tspn

Chilli powder - a pinch

Green chilli - 1 or 2 

For seasoning

Oil - 1 tbspn

Finely sliced shallots - 2 tbspns

Mustard

Dried red chillies

Curry leaves 

Method 

Wash the dal well and add the pumpkin pieces and pressure cook just until the dal gets cooked. 

Make a paste of the grated coconut, jeera, green chillies and keep aside.

Once the dal and pumpkin is cooked, add the coconut paste to it, turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt and  pour enough water just to be it in a gravy form, then keep on the stove and bring it to boil.

In a pan pour few spoons of oil, splutter mustard,  fry the shallots, curry leaves, red chillies and season the erissery.

Done :)

Serve with warm rice and enjoy! !

Roasted pumpkin soup

This is one of my kids favourite and I keep making it often for their evening snack. It’s very easy to make it and of course tasty too. All you need is an oven and a blender :)

Pumpkin - 500 gms

Onion - one big one 

Olive oil - 2 tbsps.

Milk - 2 cups

Salt and pepper

Fresh cream or cheese bits or grated cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius

Wash and peel the pumpkin into cubes and arrange in the baking tray. Peel and chop the onions also into cubes and throw in the tray. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the vegs and mix and spread it evenly in the tray.

Now keep the tray in the oven and bake for around 30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft when poked with a fork.

Remove the tray from the oven and let it cool for couple of minutes.

Once the vegs are cooled throw it in a blender and pour milk to blend it 

Blend it and then strain.

You can bring back the mixture over the stove to make it hot or warm and then garnish with grated cheese, salt and pepper and serve hot!

You can replace milk with veg stock or chicken stock and serve the soup with sour cream as well !!

Pumpkin payasam

I need to agree that making a payasam out of pumpkin has not been my idea at all, this was given by a person who sells vegetables. But I did honour him agreeing that I might try this, I tried it and I did inform him about this trial and its success. This is a very healthy sweet made using coconut milk and jaggery. Its not very difficult either. You can also give it a try.
Following is the recipe

Ingredients
Pumpkin - 500 gms
Coconut milk - 2 cups ( not very thick )
Melted jaggery - 3-4 tbspns or according to your taste
Cardamom powder - a pinch
Cashews fried in ghee - as required

Method
Chop pumpkin and steam until it is cooked.
Remove it into a vessel in which we would bring the payasam together.  Mash the pumpkin with the back of a wooden spoon, You might not want to mash it completely, it will be nice to get a bite or two of the pumpkin.
Pour in the coconut milk and the jaggery syrup , add water if required.
Bring it to boil and remove from the flame. Garnish with cardamom powder and fried cashews and serve hot or cold.
Enjoy!!