Lentils, Pumpkin & Sweet Potato stew : One pot dinner

I cannot be a self respecting food blogger and not post a pumpkin recipe for that time of the year when pumpkins are omnipresent on the internet. Actually, I didn't even realise this when I made this stew for dinner. Indians don't need a time of the year to use pumpkin. It is cooked round the year in several dishes - curries, sambars, a kootu with dals and lots more. In fact, pumpkin is such an everyday thing, that most Indian families love to hate it (familiarity breeds contempt and so on) and cannot understand what the hype & hoopla over pumpkin is all about, during this time of the year in other countries. Using pumpkin in desserts like cakes, cookies, muffins, pies etc. is not a very Indian thing, because none of the above dishes are primarily of Indian origin. There is of course a delicious Pumpkin Halwa (fudge) served in wedding feasts and other such auspicious occasions.

This stew is a healthy way to eat pumpkin and a perfect one pot dish for a chilly evening. Very little chopping and the fact that it simmers itself into a dish without much of supervision, makes it an easy post-work dinner too. This recipe serves two but you could easily double the quantities for a larger families. It's not something I'd call a glamourous dish, but something that's surely hearty, comforting and super healthy.

Lentils, Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Stew
Serves 2

Ingredients
1/3rd cup dry whole masoor dal, soaked in warm water for 2 hours
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup diced yellow pumpkin ~200 grams
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and sliced, 1 cm thick slices
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp tomato paste* or 3 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp ground cumin or ground fennel
1 tsp of ground black pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp of hungarian paprika or 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder

Directions
In a medium sized saucepan, heat the olive oil. 
Add the garlic and saute for few seconds (do not brown), add the diced pumpkin and sweet potato slices. Saute on high flame for 30 seconds. 
Reduce the flame. Drain the soaked (rehydrated) whole masoor and add to the pan. Stir for a minute or so. 
Add all the spices & herbs, stir well for few seconds, add 3 cups of boiling water to this and bring to a simmer. 
Cover and let this simmer for 20 minutes or until the lentils are soft but holding their shape. Towards the end, add the tomato paste dissolved in 2 tbsp of hot water, to the stew, bring to a simmer and then remove into a bowl to serve.
Serve hot with a slice of crusty bread or crackers or as it is. 

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Chai Spiced Mini Pumpkin Mini Bundts with glaze - #bundtamonth

This Diwali, I didn't get down to making any of the traditional goodies. And I managed to find a valid excuse. Being down with the worst cough episode of the year during the festive season is such a dampener. But when loving neighbours get you home-made goodies, you can't help but muster some enthusiasm and make some stuff that you can share with them. 

Since I've been eyeing these pumpkin-spice loaves for quite sometime, I decided to make them into mini-Bundts with a glaze that will go with these flavours. The Wilton Mini-Bundt tray is the cutest baking accessory, generously given to me by my friend, Preethi, and it always makes the prettiest little cakes. 

Pumpkin and the spices that go into making Chai Masala make a lovely pair. The fragrance and heat from the spices like ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon add a lovely dimension to the bland sweetness of pumpkin. Use the darkest golden colour pumpkin you can find for this recipe. Remove skin, dice into small cubes and boil in some water till soft. Drain and blend in a mixer till you get a fine puree. This can be refrigerated until use. Use in cakes, muffins for moist cakes with minimal use of oil / butter. This recipe uses just 2 tbsp of oil and yet the cakes are extremely moist.

Recipe for Chai Spiced Pumpkin Mini Bundts

Makes 12 - 16 mini bundt cakes

Adapted from : An Edible Mosaic 

Ingredients

3/4 Cup pumpkin puree (explained above)

3/4 Cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tbsp oil

1 1/4 C all purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp dried ginger powder

For glaze

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp milk plus some more if required

1/2 tsp cardamom essence or vanilla extract or orange extract

1 tsp Cointreau (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 175 C.
2. Using oil, grease the cavities of a mini-bundt pan or two mini loaf pans or a 7" round tin.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, brown sugar, eggs and oil.
4. In another bowl, with a whisk mix together all dry ingredients.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in two batches. Incorporate well to make a smooth batter.
6. Fill 2 heaped teaspoonfuls per cavity or 3/4 filling each.
7. Bake mini bundts for 15-20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Mini loaf pans may take around 30 minutes and round cake tin around 45-50 minutes. Once golden brown on the top and a tester comes out clean, they are ready to come out of the oven.
9. Mix all ingredients for glaze with a spoon until it is of drizzling consistency. Add a few drops more milk if required.
10. When the cakes are still warm, drizzle over them.
11. Serve warm.

Wishing you and your dear ones a very Happy Diwali

I'm sharing this with Lora and Anuradha for their #BundtAMonth challenge Spicy November.

You can check the other lovely Bundts on their blogs.

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Khatti Meethi Kaddu Subzi : Punjabi style red pumpkin curry

There are some side dishes that make the calories of a poori worthwhile. Aloo subzi and Chole have always been my favourite accompaniments to this deep fried bread and this pumpkin subzi (curry) is a recent discovery. Tangy, spicy and sweet at the same time, it is a great way to make use of red pumpkin which is in season now. In Bangalore, we find the Disco pumpkin which are smaller in size, the Ironbark or the Japanese, all of which have a deep orange flesh. For this preparation, the former varieties are preferred over the yellow flesh pumpkin used for Olan like Koottu.

This is a Punjabi recipe shared by my friend, Kishi Arora of Foodoholics and this is the way her mom makes it. I think I have more or less followed the recipe she dictated to me on phone. We prepared this with Aaloo Bhaaja, Chole, Halwa and Poori for a perfect Navratri dinner. 

Khatti Meethi Kaddu Subzi / Sweet and sour red pumpkin / butternut squash
Time taken : Under 30 minutes
Serves 4 people

Ingredients
750 grams red pumpkin 
1 tbsp mustard oil 
Fat pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp amchoor powder (raw mango powder)
1 tsp red chilli powder
1-2 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp crushed jaggery (or brown sugar)
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp salt or more to taste
Finely chopped coriander for garnish

Directions

1. Peel pumpkin and scrape out seeds. Cut into even sized cubes, about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch big.
2. In a wide wok / kadai, heat the oil. Add the asafoetida, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds. Once the mustard splutters, add the pumpkin cubes and toss well to coat with oil and whole spices.
3. On medium flame, cook the pumpkin for 5 minutes or so, then add all remaining powdered spices, including crushed jaggery, add 1/2 cup of water, cover and cook on low flame. This will take at least 15-20 minutes to cook. Keep checking every 5 minutes, if any additional water is required, adding 1/4 cup at a time, if necessary.
4. When cooked, you should be able to crush the pumpkin with the thumb with light pressure but the shape should be retained, and the whole dish should not turn into mashed pumpkin. 
5. Adjust the red chilli powder, jaggery and amchoor to suit your taste such that it is a good balance of spicy, sweet and sour. If the pumpkin is inherently quite sweet, you don't have to add much jaggery.
6. Garnish with finely chopped coriander.

Serve hot with pooris or rotis.

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Roasted Pumpkin Soup with flavours of Lemongrass and Ginger

We're not yet fully into winter and yet early morning temperatures are hitting lows of 15C. Bangalore, how I love thee for this. With this soup I made for my son and me a couple of nights ago, I have hit upon another perfectly warming soup recipe for the winter evenings. The lemongrass keeps it fresh and the ginger gives it the warmth.

I buy fresh lemongrass from Namdhari's that comes chopped in batons and sold in plastic bags. I'm talking about the green leaves here and not the stalk that is used in Thai cooking. I keep this in the freezer once opened, and it stays for a long time. My favourite use for this is in my morning Chai. Other than this I use it in Thai curry pastes, or even just simmer in a curry and fish it out in the end for that fresh lemony flavour. I have found that Lemon Basil is a great substitute for lemongrass in tea as well as curries.

This soup is as filling and creamy as it can get, without adding even a touch of cream. You could do an oven roasted pumpkin soup, but I find the flavours very similar even with slow roasting on a stove top pan. I used the yellow pumpkin for this. You could try the same with butternut squash or the darker orange pumpkin too.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Recipe for Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Lemongrass and Ginger
Serves 3
Under 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
200 grams yellow pumpkin
1 large onion
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
6-7 lemon grass leaves
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 1/2 cups skimmed milk
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Paprika
Dried parsley

Preparation
Peel and slice the pumpkin into medium sized pieces
Peel and thinly slice the onion
Slice the garlic

Directions

1. In a large wok, heat the olive oil. Before oil gets hot, add the sliced garlic and onions. Saute on medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the lemongrass leaves and ginger. Stir for a few seconds.
2. Add the sliced pumpkin. Braise on high heat, shaking the wok every now and then until the slices get a golden brown coating.
3. At this stage sprinkle sea salt and let this cook uncovered for 5 minutes on low heat.
4. Add 1/2 cup water, cover and cook the pumpkin now, until it is fully done and falls apart when touched with a ladle.
5. Remove to a dish and cool. Remove the lemon grass leaves from the cooked veggies and discard.
6. Once cooled, remove this to a blender and blend to a smooth puree with milk.
7. Get this back into a saucepan and check for seasoning. The soup will be reasonably thick and very creamy at this stage. Adjust consistency of soup using some water if required, if you prefer a thinner soup.

Serving
Ladle the hot soup into bowls. Top with some extra virgin olive oil. sprinkling of paprika, a tinge of grated ginger and some fresh lemongrass leaves as a garnish.
Serve with sliced toasted baguette which have been rubbed with garlic cloves, or soup sticks.

Tip
You can make this soup spicier by adding a Thai red chilli in the initial stage along with ginger and lemon grass.
You could try adding a tsp of fresh thyme leaves towards the end for a more intense flavour.
Here's a colourful guide on the different commonly available pumpkins and how to cook them.

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