Sweet and sour pumpkin with puri

Kaddu ki sabzi (Sweet and sour pumpkin), also known as khatta meetha kaddu is an Indian pumpkin dry-style curry with sweet and sour flavours derived from mango powder and jaggery. This sweet and sour pumpkin dish is made and served at temples, the day after Diwali.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  3

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp (40 ml) mustard oil
• 1 large Indian bay leaf
• ½ tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp small black mustard seeds (rai)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 pinch hing (asafoetida)
• 2 dried Kashmiri red chillies
• 2 – 3 small green chillies, finely chopped
• 1 kg Kent pumpkin, cut into 2 cm pieces, skin-on
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 1½ tsp chilli powder
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 3½ tsp mango powder
• 2 cm x 3 cm piece ginger, roughly chopped
• 5 tbsp jaggery powder
• salt
• 1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves, to serve
• fried puri, to serve (see Note)

Instructions

1. Heat the mustard oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan until it smokes. Reduce the heat to low, then add the bay leaf, fenugreek, mustard and fennel seeds. When the seeds begin to crackle, add the asafoetida and dried red chillies.

2. Stir through the green chilli and pumpkin. Increase the heat to medium-high and fry for 2-3 minutes. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender.

3. Uncover the pan and add the spices, mango powder, ginger and jaggery and mix gently to combine. Cover and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, or until the jaggery melts and the sauce comes together. Season to taste with salt.

4. Remove from the heat and sprinkle the sweet and sour pumpkin with chopped coriander. Serve with fried puri and/or roti.

Note

Puri, or poori is a type of Indian bread made from flour, oil, salt and water which is rolled into a circular shape and deep-fried. If you cannot source puri, you can substitute it with roti.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.