Pumpkin/Butternut Squash and Coconut. The Perfect Fall Vegetable Dish.

 
   I love Fall, I always have. Not for me the long slow Summer nights where it's light til 9:00 o'clock. Give me early darkness, a roaring fire, and all those root vegetables. big gourds, and weird squashes. On chilly Fall nights, the neighbors dog, Smokey barks and howls at whatever's living in that massive redwood tree out back and it makes me want to put something comforting on the stove. Something that screams "The Year's Ending!!! Soon!"
  
   One of the best things about this time of year is pumpkins. I love them and always stock up on them, because it seems that once Halloween is past it's hard to find them. It's as though as long as you can carve a face in it it's cool to keep a pumpkin around, but after that ...forget about it. I beg to differ. Now I'm not saying that every pumpkin dish has to be made with pumpkin, because as I found out a while back not every pumpkin is good eating. Some pumpkins are not meaty or flavorful enough. If you're lucky enough to find a good one great, but this recipe also works beautifully with squash. Butternut squash to be exact. Butternut squash is actually what passes in a can for pumpkin here in the US, so even though there's a cute little pumpkin in the background of the shot above, what's chunked up in the bowl is actually butternut squash.
 
   This recipe is really easy to make, and while traditionally it is aSouth Indian dish called a Mathanga Thoran (pumpkin curry) it would serve very well on anyone's Thanksgiving table. So grab your squash and get cooking.

Pumpkin/Butternut Squash Coconut Curry

Here's What You Need:
2 and 1/2 cups of peeled cubed butternut squash
1/2 cup of fresh grated or dried grated unsweetened coconut
8 shallots
2 or 3 large serrano chiles, seeded and chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
8 curry leaves fresh or frozen
1 dried red chili
1 Tbs coconut oil

Here's What To Do:
Peel and cube the butternut squash.
Put it into a pot or kadhai.

Add in 1/4 tsp turmeric.

Add in a bit of salt for starters.

Add in about 2 cups of water. Enough to cover the squash. Bring things to a boil.

Boil the squash until it's tender. This should take about 15 minutes or so.
Meanwhile chop the shallots and chilies.

If you've got onion or chili goggles, use them.

Put the shallots, chilies and cumin seeds into a grinder.

Whirl everything into a paste.

Drain the cooked squash.

Place 1 Tbs of coconut oil in a hot skillet or kadhai.

When the oil is hot, toss in the mustard seeds and urad dal.
When the mustard seeds start top sputter, add in the curry leaves and dried red chili halves.
stir it around for a couple of seconds then add in the shallot chili paste.

Let it cook and sizzle, stirring it around, then adding the dried or fresh coconut.

Cook it for another few minutes.
Add in the cooked squash/pumpkin pieces.

Mix everything together well.
Check the dish for salt. If it needs more, add some.
When you're ready serve it up!

   Sweet, hot and savory all at once, this is a great dish for the holiday table no matter what you're celebrating. It's gluten free, vegan and vegetarian so no matter whoever you're trying to please, they're guaranteed to be happy with this one! By the way it's also make ahead and reheats well the next day without losing any quality, so there's that!  In fact like most Indian food it only benefits being left to mellow a bit, something we can't alas say about many things.

   I busted out the new kitchen Saturday night and cooked my first full on Indian dinner. What fun.
  Coming up next, Guys and Dals. 4 Guys, 3 Dals what could possibly go wrong??? Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

The Great Pumpkin, Kerala Style

   It's pumpkin season! Fall has always been my favorite time of year. I like it when things turn brown and red, there's the smell of woodsmoke in the air and the dark falls early. Some of my favorite foods start showing up at the the Farmers Markets, Brussels sprouts, pomegranates and of course, pumpkins.

   Now pumpkins aren't all that hard to get most of the year, the canned ones at least. But are what we're really getting in those cans pumpkins or not? Actually, not since most canned pumpkin is actually canned squash. After all, a gourd by any other name... still tastes great and often times a whole lot better than most of the pumpkins one can find out there. As this article from the New York Times points out.

   Consider the Sugar Pie Pumpkin. I feel like Rod Serling.

Don't let the name fool you. These little suckers are neither sugary or great for pies. As you can see. They're tough, stringy and not all that meaty.

They are however, great for Jack-O-Lanterns. Just use another type of squash for any cooking and eating purposes, you'll be happier. What I usually use for my pumpkin cooking needs is a good Butternut Squash.

   This is an easy curry from Kerala that cooks up fast and is warming for those cooler Fall nights ahead. I fixed this curry for a casual Indian dinner party a couple of weeks ago. A vegetanble side dish and some rice were added and we had a complete feast.

Kerala Pumpkin Curry

Here's What You Need:

4 cups peeled and chopped Butternut Squash
1 cup cooked black eyed peas (frozen or canned is fine and easier)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
salt to taste
1 and 1/2 cup grated fresh or dried coconut
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 serrano chili
30 curry leaves
1 and 1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds
3 dried red chilies seeded and crumbled
6 Tbs grated coconut (fresh or dried)
4 Tbs coconut oil or other vegetable oil

Here's What To Do: 

If using frozen black eyed peas, defrost them. If using canned, drain them and rinse them well.
Set them aside.
Peel and chop the butternut squash into cubes. Set them aside.
Pour 2 cups of water into a pan or kadhai.
Add in the butternut squash cubes.

Add the turmeric powder, Kashmiri chili and  salt.

Put a lid on the pan and let the squash cook on a low heat for about 15 or 20 minutes. It should be tender.
Keep an eye on the water in the pan while cooking. You don't want it to dry up. If it starts to, add a bit more water.
While the squash is cooking, put 1 and 1/2 cup of the grated coconut, the cumin seeds and the Serrano chili into a grinder.

Add about 1 cup of water and blend it into a paste

When the squash is cooked through, add in the coconut paste.

Add in the black eyed peas.

 

If it looks too thick you can add a bit more water to thin things out.
Stir things around and make sure everything is mixed together well.

Put it back on the heat and simmer it all for about 10 minutes or so. The idea here is to get the flavors to marry well.
If at any time the stew becomes too thick, always add just a bit of water.
When it's all cooked through, put a lid back on the pan and set it aside.

It's time for the chaunk!

In a small pan or skillet, heat 4 Tbs of coconut oil.
When the oil is hot, add in the mustard seeds.
When they start to pop and crackle, toss in the curry leaves, and dried red chilies.

Cook until the curry leaves start to crisp up and the red chilies darken.
Toss in the 4 Tbs of grated coconut and cook it until it starts to turn light brown.
Don't let it burn.
There should be an even golden browning.

Pour the whole thing into the pumpkin stew.

  I served this curry hot over Basmati rice with spices, chapatti, green beans with coconut and peanuts and a mango curd.

   Of course there was dessert.  Coming up next, a dessert from Chennai,with dal.

   I just wanted to add here that I thank each and everyone who's sent me wishes regarding my dad. Right now things are not looking too good, he's in and out of lucidity, and we'll know a lot more in the next 24 to 48 hours as to what the prognosis is. Until then, once again thanks to all for your kindness.

A Tale of Two Pumpkins...Or Rather One Pumpkin, Two Lunches.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was pumpkin season. Every Fall I become a pumpkin hoarder. I see those beautiful little orange babies and I don't have to have just one, I have to have a whole pyramid of them. The bigger the better. If I could use them as furniture, I would.
I always intend to do something with them, but somehow, short of carving one up as a Halloween Jack O' Lantern, I never do. Maybe I suffered a pumpkin deficiency back in the years I lived in LA when there were tons of pumpkins in the markets all through October and then Bang!, November 1st, they all seemed to disappear.
Back in the day, I loved to cook with pumpkin. Pumpkin gnocchi, pumpkin sage sauce for pasta, pumpkin dumplings, pumpkin and root vegetable stews. It was like that shrimp guy in Forrest Gump. I couldn't get enough of them. So, I used to store them up in my garage and sort of work my way through them dish by dish. Along the way I learned a thing or two about pumpkins.
First of all, there are Jack O' Lantern pumpkins and cooking pumpkins. Second of all, I happen to be lucky enough to live in an area where all the pumpkins don't go missing the day after Trick or Treat. They're still out there, stacks of them and I'm taking advantage.
The best pumpkin to cook with, is the Sugar Pie Pumpkin. Contrary to popular thought, ok, contrary to what I thought, it doesn't have to be as big as my head to be good. Below is the cute little Sugar Pie I bought home the other day.


A pumpkin of this size, which I think was about 1 pound, turned out to make two, count 'em , two full very generously sized vegetable side dishes.
The first thing to do is to clean your pumpkin. Cut it, clean out the seeds (which can be cleaned, dried and roasted with tasty spices for later crunching), peel and chop it.



For this dish all you're going to need is going to be half of your 1 pound pumpkin, about 7 oz. which will be cubed into one inch pieces. This is going to be turned into
Green Beans and Pumpkin Curry, my adaptation of a recipe from one of my favorite books Atul Kochhars' Indian Essence.
Once you have your peeled and cubed pumpkin
1.) clean and cut 1/4 pound of green beans into 1 inch pieces.



2.)Pour 1 cup of water into a deep skillet or Karhai and bring it to a boil.
3.) Add the pumpkin, the beans and 2 Tbs of vegetable oil.
4.) When the water is boiling turn the heat to low and simmer it all for about 5 minutes, or until your beans are soft.
Add
5.) 1/2 tsp of salt
6.) 1/2 tsp of turmeric
7.) 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder if you can't find this, mix 1/4 tsp of cayenne powder with 1/4 tsp of paprika
8.) 1/2 tsp ground cumin
9.) 1/2 tsp ground coriander
10.) 1 1/2 Tbs of Jaggery (Indian palm sugar) can be replaced with light brown sugar.

Mix all those spices in and then continue to cook it on a low heat until all the vegetables are tender. Before you serve, sprinkle it with 2 tsp of chopped fresh cilantro.




I think I've now overcome my pumpkin hoarding, seeing as I can easily obtain them here in Sonoma county. But for those of you who may suffer from disappearing pumpkin syndrome, this recipe will work just fine with any sort of winter squash. And the best, best, best of all that one pumpkin supplies enough of beta carotene goodness for two separate meals!! Coming up soon, Pumpkin....Part 2, Cook Hard Eat Soft!!
Just A Note
Listen to my podcast on Pumpkins at A Million Cooks