Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Poosanikai Paal Koottu - White Pumpkin in a mild coconut gravy

Hope you all had a great Diwali!

Fall is here! What are your favorite things in Fall? I like fall, but I hate to see it come because it rings a bell in my mind of whats just around the corner - Winter. But there are still some nice things about Fall. The anticipation of the upcoming Holiday season makes it special to me. The pumpkin flavor is back once again in everything - Donut, Coffee, Soup, Cookies, you name it. If my favorite Pumpkin Spice Latte is available in Starbucks, then I can officially declare its Fall! I am already relishing my Latte for the last couple of weeks, especially on those chilly mornings perfect for a hot drink. Its a delicious blend of pumpkin and traditional fall spice flavors in a coffee. I generally enjoy my early morning commutes with a cup of coffee and my favorite music playing in the car, and with my favorite Latte, I can drive that extra mile!

I'm also enjoying the spectacular colors of fall during my commute. When we lived in the New England area, we had the privilege of watching the fall foliage. Those amazing vibrant colors of maples! Though my current place is not a typical fall-destination for outsiders, it actually gets really pretty for a couple of weeks in october. I don't think any other season brings this beauty. I may sound silly, but I also like wearing a warm, cozy sweater on a crisp morning rather than those heavy jackets. It gives me such a great comfort to my mind and body. May be perhaps it reminds me of my holidays in a hill station like Kodaikanal wearing a light sweater with a thin scarf around my neck. Well, those are some of my fall favorites..

Now, about the recipe, this is one of those traditional handed-down-from-grandma recipes in South India. There may be multiple versions of this dish floating across my home-town region. The reason I want to post it here is surprisingly I couldn't find this recipe online. After a long time I made this dish, and when I wanted to make sure I'm using the right ingredients I searched online for this recipe and after a heavy search I found only a couple of sites with this recipe. I decided to post it in my blog after I make this and here it is. Its again a very simple dish and goes well with Rice and Dal.

Ingredients:
  • White Pumpkin - chopped - 2 cups
  • G.chillies - 2
  • Shallots - chopped - 4 tbsp (you can use regular onions too).
  • Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
  • Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
  • Urad Dal - 1 tsp
  • Red Chilly - 1
  • Curry leaves - a few
  • Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
Procedure:
  • Dry roast the cumin seeds for 2 to 3 mins in medium heat and grind to a fine powder. Alternatively you can use 1/2 tsp of readymade cumin powder.
  • Mix the cumin powder with the coconut milk and set aside.
  • In a pan, add onions, g.chillies, pumpkin and salt with 1/2 cup water and cook together.
  • Mash the pumpkins slighlty after they are thoroughly cooked.
  • Add the coconut milk and jeera powder mixture and let it boil for 2-3 mins until it becomes slightly thicker.
  • In a separate pan, heat some oil and season with mustard seeds and urad dal. When they splatter add the red chilly and some curry leaves.
  • Pour this mixture on top of the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Remove from heat.
Serve warm with rice and dal.

19 comments:

Sailaja Damodaran said...

nice easy recipe...yummy

Sushma Mallya said...

love the coconut flavoured gravy ...urs looks very simple and yet very delicious....

chef and her kitchen said...

Mild and flavorful one..

Suparna said...

yumm...I love pumpkin dishes. I love both yogurt and coconut based recipes, thanks for ur version of recipe :)
TC

Priya Suresh said...

Such a delicious kootu, prefect for everyone at home, looks creamy and yummy!

notyet100 said...

thnks for the lovely description of the weather,..:-)

Unknown said...

MMM...YUMMY...must taste great with hot rice.....

Suganya said...

Pumpkin gravy looks so good. Nice picture. YUM!

Cham said...

I love the fall color in New England, lived near by few years ago.
Paal koottu is delicious way to indulge this pumpkin!

Dori said...

I love pumpkin season... that gravy looks super delicious!

Raks said...

Good one,hav heard a lot,but never tried ...will try soon!

Anu said...

Pumpkin dish looks so delicious... Nice click dear...

suvaiyaana suvai said...

sounds good!!!!!!

Parita said...

I love anything with coconut milk and pumpkin is one of my fav these days..sure to try :-)

Laavanya said...

I usually make olan with pumpkin & coconut milk and this paal kootu sounds like such a nice variation.

Cham said...

Ennanga romba busy schedule ? Update illaya...
Happy Thanksgiving Suja :)

Sujatha said...

Aama, bayangara busy routine Cham :) MBA classes eduthadhula irundhu assignments'kku thaan time sariaa irukku..

Oru post vandhuttae irukku.. Will update soon.. Hope you had a great thanksgiving :)

Andhra Flavors said...

simple and delicious!

Shankari said...

Thanks for this simple recipe. All the white pumpkin dishes I know rely on heavy use of coconut. Even though yours uses coconut milk, it is only 1/2 cup. I am bookmarking this recipe for sure :)