Mashed Pumpkin

Thanksgivings is around the corner; the preparation, and the planning is at its peak. We do not have family here. We do not meet very many people during Thanksgiving. But all the celebrations and the preparations reminds me of house. Pumpkins and bitternut squashes are so plentifully used during this time of the year here. But back home we prepared mashed pumpkin almost round the year.

This is a very easy recipe, perhaps the most underrated of all the ways we prepare mashed pumpkin; this is not the kind of dish which would be ever written down. It was just an insignificant part of our everyday meals. Insignificant it was, but I like it! Using the fire cooked dried pepper was my mother’s signature touch. That distinct aroma of the fire cooked peppers and the mustard oil joint with the creamy yellow pumpkin to make everlasting memory.

On its own, mashed pumpkin is very law in fat and loves other brightly colored vegetables such as broccoli and carrots, rich in vital vitamins, antioxidants and beta carotene. The seeds are also an excellent source of fiber and minerals such as iron and zinc. Seeds in different forms—cooked, shelled, unshelled—are readily available in health food supplies and some supermarkets these days and prepare a healthy snack or a crispy addition to salads.

This simple recipe for deliciously buttery and lightly spiced mashed pumpkin is a best alternative to mashed potato. It is also the perfect complement to blander foods such as steamed greens or poached chicken.

Nutrition Information

Amount per serving: Calories—69, Calories from fat—31, Total fat—3g, Saturated fat—241mg, Trans fat—102mg, Sodium—973mg, Carbohydrate—10g, Dietary fiber—2g, Sugar—2g, Protein—937mg, Vitamin A—125%, Vitamin C—24%, Calcium—4%, Iron—4%, Potassium—1%.

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin

1 pinch turmeric powder

1 small marble size, tamarind

1 tea spoon salt

2 table spoon sesame oil

1 table spoon Bengal gram dal

1 tea spoon coriander seeds

4 red peppers +1 for seasoning

1 pinch asafetida

1 piece cinnamon

2 table spoons dry coconut gratings/copra

1 pinch mustard seeds

A few curry leaves

A few cashew nuts

How to make Mashed Pumpkin

Peel and chop the pumpkin into big cubes. Soak tamarind in hot water and extract the juice. Add turmeric powder and cook the pumpkin cubes in tamarind juice on medium flame. Add little more water if necessary to cover the vegetable.

In the mean while heat 1/4 tea spoon of oil and add cinnamon, Bengal gram dal, coriander seeds and red peppers. Roast till it becomes golden in color giving out a pleasant aroma. Add asafetida and switch off flame. Grind the cooked ingredients into a fairly smooth powder adding copra in the end. When the pumpkin is thoroughly roasted add salt and mash well using the back of the ladle.

Add the ground powder and cook for one minute till the spice blends well with the pumpkin and switch off flame. The consistency should be thick like gravy. Heat the remaining oil in a seasoning ladle and add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter add the cashew nuts and fry till they become golden in color. Add one broken red pepper and the curry leaves and pour the seasoning on the tovvae.