As you have probably read by now, I am not 100% Sri Lankan. So my mum never cooked traditional Sri Lankan food. Yes, she cooked curry but there were some things she would just not do. Either because they were too time consuming or because she didn't have the correct implements. Because of this we never had traditional pumpkin curry at home. I absolutely adored it and would stuff myself whenever I got it at my aunts homes. Generally pumpkin is not considered a fancy dish, so you don't get it when there is a celebration. It's more the type of food you get when you go home with your cousins and share whatever has been cooked. Even better if you were not expected!
Now I think I have finally found a way to cook the pumpkin somewhat like my aunts. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do. The secret ingredient is ground brown mustard seeds!
Preparation time: 45 minutes ; serves 4 - 8 (depending on how many other curries you have)
Ingredients:
| 750 g | Pumpkin (any type, cooking time may vary) |
| 1/2 cup | Diced onions |
| 1 tbsp. | Finely diced garlic |
| 1/4 tsp. | Tumeric |
| 1/2 tsp. | Chili powder (or to taste) |
| 2 | Green chilies, sliced |
| 10 | Black pepper seeds |
| Water to cover | |
| 1 tsp. | Salt |
| 1 sprig | Curry leaves |
| 1/4 tsp. | Dill seeds |
| 2 tsp. | Brown mustard seeds |
| 1 cup | Thick coconut milk |
Method:
Before you start note that the mustard seeds are NOT optional. You can leave out many things but not the mustard. You will also need a good grinder and a stone mortar and pestle.
You can use any pumpkin you like to make this. The cooking time will of course vary according to which type you use. You can cook it with or without the skin, also depending on the type. In these pictures I used hokkaido pumpkin. You need to cut the pumpkin into cubes around 1 inch cube. The pumpkin will disintegrate if you cut it too small, which is also a reason why you might want to keep the skin on. In my case I removed the skin.
The first step is easy enough. Put all the ingredients except the mustard seeds and coconut in a pot. Do not put too much water. If you have too much water at the end this can be saved by using coconut cream or coconut milk powder. Cover and bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer (12 - 20).
While this is going on you can prepare the mustard. This is how I did it. I first put my seeds into the grinder attachment of my Sumeet (which is a really good, heavy duty Indian liquidizer/grinder) and ground until I had a kind of fine powder. You can probably do this in any spice grinder, or if you don't have one you can use a mortar and pestle or a 'miris gala'. Sadly to release the flavour that you need for this curry this powder is not enough. I put my powder into a granite mortar, added about a teaspoon of water (water is really important), and ground until I had a smooth paste.
You need 1 teaspoon of this paste. Save any extra paste that you may have, you can put it in sandwiches or any where else that you would use mustard. You must have a granite/stone mortar. It won't work with a wooden one. Believe me, I have tried!
Once your pumpkin is just about (al dente) cooked mix the mustard into the coconut milk and then into the pumpkin curry. If you use coconut cream from a can use about 1/2 cup adding some water, if necessary. If you use coconut milk powder it is best to pour out extra water that you might have in the pot and mix the milk powder with this water. Pumpkin is very watery, so the curry tends to become too liquidy very quickly. If you use fresh coconut milk then it will probably be a bit liquid, but on the other hand you've gained on the taste. Do not cover the curry. Bring to the boil and it is ready to serve.
