Saturday, July 19, 2008

Mother's recipe :)

Ever since we started frequenting the Farmer's Market in Atlanta, A'd point out the yellow pumpkin known as 'petha' in Hindi and talk about one of his favourite preparations made by his mom. His mom is a fantastic cook. I stayed at their place after marriage before coming to the US and all I did was eat. She cooks with a disarming charm, and thankfully is not obsessed about measuring food like A does, ALL the time. She is an amazing multi-tasker and finishes cooking way before anyone woke up! A has some very nice memories of his mom's cooking and like most men, believes his mom is the best cook. This time around, I agree ;)
This post really goes out to her because she graciously shared the recipe with me, so I can cook for her son. (Okay, the son pestered her every weekend :D) It is a recipe that I did not believe will work out. In fact, my sis-in-law does not like this particular dish and advised me not to try it. So on one of the Farmer's market trips, A and I bought a wedge of this pumpkin. I could see the glee on his face. So, two days later, I decided to make this for him. Here is the recipe for you guys.

Ingredients:

1.25 lb orange/red pumpkin or 'petha'
1 can of Black eyed peas or Lobia
1 tomato
1 tsp Jeera
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp oil
1tsp ghee
Salt to taste



1. Chop the pumpkin into cubes and the tomatoes and set aside

2. Heat oil and once it is ready, throw in the Jeera, let it splutter

3. Add the pumpkin and allow for 5 mins

4. Add tomatoes and allow to cook for another 5 mins

5. Add the Lobia or the Black eyed peas, mix well

6. Add the turmeric, and the Garam Masala and salt to taste and close with a lid. Let the sabzi cook for a good 15-20 mins or until the pumpkins get tender.

7. Add a dollop of ghee in the end and mix. Switch off the gas :)

I added canned Black eyed peas which come pre-cooked. So, if you are using raw black-eyed peas, make sure to soak it for a couple of hours. I also added a little more Garam Masala accidentally :P But like my mother-in-law, I do not measure and just added the ingredients according to my whim ;) What a relief! I share atleast one of my mother-in-law's cooking traits ;)

This sabzi turned out so well, that I ate my words. I believed that this was a perfect combination of simplicity and superior taste. That is another reason I've not added coriander or done anything to the picture. I wanted to keep it simple. Every time A pesters his mom for a recipe, the perfect in-laws that I have, my father-in-law sits and types out the recipe into a Powerpoint and sends it titling the presentation N's kitchen, N being my mother-in-law's name's first letter too! Also, with this recipe, he said this for the last step: Add a dollop of ghee and mix. Serve with love :) So, here I am sending it to Srivalli's Curry Mela with love!

P.S.- Sorry, Srivalli, I'm technically challenged, so replicating your logo even if it is just Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V is slightcha complicated ;)

22 comments:

Dibs said...

After a whole week of gastronomic adventures, nothing like simple food, with no more than a pinch of garam masala, and jeera tadka! Nice and simple recipe.

On cooker sambar - I go a step further and just dump everything from dal, veggys, sambar powder, salt, tamarind pulp, curry leaf (and sometimes a tadka!) in the cooker. It's an instant as it gets!

sra said...

I always thought petha was the white one - but i drew my inference from Agra Petha that I see in sweet shops!

Shreya said...

Oh Nandu, what a lovely post! And this is my mom's recipe too:-), though instead of black eyed peas, we use the brown ones - I don't know what they are called in Hindi, we call it Mampayar in Malayalam. And I put the peas (after having soaked) and the pumpkin in a cooker first, before adding the masala. Great entry for the event, N!
Dibs, I am a cooker samber person too, though I do the tadka later. Saves so much time!

amna said...

gal, try right clicking the logo and it will say 'copy image location' (please don't tell me you are NOT using firefox!) once you have copied that, you can past it in your 'add image' box within the 'create post' in blogger in the URL section. (I see that you are uploading from your computer now but you also have an option to add an image by location from another location online)

and if all of that went off the top of your head, ping me and i will tell u again :D

sorry for not commenting on the recipe, cuz i cant stand pumpkin :D

Anonymous said...

Wow...this looks delicious. I am not that fond of pumpkins but this looks good.Will try this one.

Unknown said...

hey there...thanks for dropping by my kook book...:)...you have a mouthwatering collection here ....I am so missing the Oven....anyways...Cheers

Supriya

Cham said...

Simple and yummy, never made curry with pumpkin but this one is tempting :)

Diamond and Pearl said...

I love pumpkin and was on the lookout for a simple recipe -like this one! thanks!

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Mom's recipes are allways better, in any part of the world!

Deepthi Shankar said...

thatz a simple n delicious curry .. have never had lobia with pumpkin. as sra mentioned, i too thought petha means white pumpkin

Madhavi said...

Delicious entry, look good!!!

Trupti said...

curry looks very delicious and healthy

Laavanya said...

I've not cooked anything with yellow pumpkin so far - am always worried that it'll be too sweet. I buy the white one and make olan or add to morkuzhambu. That's so sweet of your in-laws to send you such neat and perfect recipes.

ST said...

Nice combo....Haven't tried yellow pumpkin so far....But here curry looks very delicious and healthy.....I will try this time....Thanks for sharing.......

notyet100 said...

wow,..this is totally new for me,..looks delicious,.

Indian Khana said...

Nice and simple as you mention...we too make the same way but exclude the black-eyed peas and ghee, try like this and it will taste yum too...

A_and_N said...

@ Dibs: Totally, Dibs :) Nothing like a simple meal. And thanks for your clarification regarding the sambar. A wants to try it out soon!

@ Sra and Vegetable Platter: I dunno, really. Now that you say it, maybe I'm wrong. A calls it this. So there :P, direct all your blame elsewhere please!

@ Shreya: Thanks a ton man! I am not a great pumpkin favourite though ;) But this was not all that bad. Oh, I should ask someone what mampayar is. Am sure A knows!

@ Nags: Err...I know about it..it was just an exaggeration since we were leaving for Florida :D immediately after this or something like that! And, I use FF! Go FF :D

@ Homecooked: I changed my mind too, about the pumpkin after this :)

@ Supriya: Thanks :)

@ Cham: Aah, I've never cooked pumpkin before too. It seems like such a Paati-Amma veggie :D

@ Diamond: Do try it and let me know how it went!

@ Clumbsy cookie: Absolutely!

@ Madhavi, Trupti: Thank you!

@ Laavanya: My in-laws are super-nice, yes :)

@ Sireesha: Sure, let us know how it went!

@ Notyet100: Well, it is delicious too!

@ Priti: Oh nice! Do post your recipe sometime.

Dori said...

Looks really good, It's a new pumpkin I never had!

delhibelle said...

The sabzi does look dlish!
I am also not a big fan of yellow pumpkin, but next time I need to make it, this is exactly what I am doing to it.
Your in laws sound so sweet!

Sum Raj said...

deliicous entry..looks awsome

Srivalli said...

did I tell you what a lovely header you have?..:)...thanks for sharing your mil's recipe, it sounds great..and sorry for dropping in so late!...:)

Srivalli said...

did I tell you what a lovely header you have?..:)...thanks for sharing your mil's recipe, it sounds great..and sorry for dropping in so late!...:)