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.