Vishu (festival of Kerala) is around the corner and I was chatting with my friends on the various dishes made on this occasion. It was during this conversation that I got to know more about the disparities in tradition and the dishes cooked for the same festival within different corners of the same state as my friend told me that she did not know this wonderful pumpkin dish.
So Josna, on your request…!
Mathanga (Pumpkin) Pachadi is a very common dish made with coconut and yogurt, here Pachadi is a common reference to any side dish made with yogurt and usually on a sweeter note. I had earlier uploaded a Beetroot Pachadi recipe, and yes you guessed it right; I love recipes with yogurt. The one big difference with this recipe when compared to any other Pachadi recipes is the use of mustard seeds. Normally we use mustard seeds to temper by spluttering it in oil, but here we also crush it and add to the dish. That’s my mom’s secret tip, and it tastes good too.
I love the thick squishy pumpkin yogurt combo, this little sweet and sour curry will make a delicious accompaniment with rice and any spicy curry, I would recommend a fish curry to go along with.
Prep time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4 – 5 servings
INGREDIENTS
- ½ cup Pumpkin (chopped)
- 2 green chilies
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- ½ cup Grated coconut
- ¼ tbsp Cumin seeds
- 2 sprigs Curry leaves
- Small pinch of Mustard seeds
- ½ cup yogurt
- Dry red chilies (garnish)
- Oil (as required)
- Salt (as required)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cut the pumpkin into half, and clean and remove seeds from the inside. Peel of its skin.
- Slice pumpkin into small pieces.
- In a pan cook the pumpkin with a little water and salt, till it turns mushy.
- Meanwhile make a coconut paste by grinding grated coconut, green chilies, turmeric powder, and cumin seeds.
- Mash the cooked pumpkin properly with a wooden spoon or a masher. Add the coconut paste with 2 tbsp of water and mix well. Cook the mix for another 3 minutes. Turn off the flame and allow it to cool.
- Beat yogurt and add it to the pan and mix well, taste and add salt as needed.
- Take another small pan for tempering a little oil, curry leaves and dry red chilies, on a low flame. Add the tempering to the pumpkin curry and mix well.
- Pound mustard seeds in mortar and pestle until crushed, and add that to the curry.
Serve with rice.
Wow a veg dish and one of my favourite dishes… This is really one of our authentic dishes and really yum!!! We also always prepare by grinding mustard seeds along with coconut and green chillies… Another variation of pachadi is the pulipachadi that we make by not adding yogurt, but instead cooking the veggies – tomato or pumpkin or drumstick etc in tamarind and adding ground coconut the same way… Mathanga pachadi tastes better if we add a piece of jaggery too… Slurp… 😉
Thank You Devika for your generous comments…!! Yes, grinding mustard along with the coconut mix is also an option.
I haven’t tried Pulipachadi, thanks for the suggestion. Will definitely try out some time 🙂