Sweet-Sour-Spicy Pumpkin (Khatta Meetha Hara Kaddu)

 

All three of my cookbooks have a recipe for Kaddu (pumpkin). In the US I love using butternut squash for the recipe. You can use green pumpkin or sweet ripe pumpkin. They are both used in India. This recipe/video is made using green kaddu (green pumpkin).

Charlie and almost every friend that ever eats this, falls in love with it instantly. It is a dish that is made for special occasions when pooris (puffy bread) is served with special potato curry and channas (chickpeas). Also made to mark festivals. 

My father loved it and so it was made on a rotation every couple of weeks. One of several vegetable sides that the lunch or dinner table would have. 

It can be made with tamarind chutney as I do here, or just with amchoor (mango powder) or even lemon or lime juice for souring. Of course how much sour (acid) and sweet you add, depends of you. 

Charlie and my dad both love(d) hot and so green chiles would get added too. But that can also be dropped or added as per your wish. 

Like all cooking, recipes are subjective and identify the tastebuds of the cooks and the homes that they are from. Cook and make this your own as you get familiar with it and start to enjoy and savor it with some recurrence. 

Khatta Meetha Hara Kaddu

"Sweet and Sour Green Pumpkin”

 

1.5 kgs Hara Kaddu (green pumpkin)

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 dried red chiles (laal mirchi)

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi dana)

2 teaspoons coriander powder

1 teaspoon sweet paprika (Deghi mirch)

Salt to taste 

1 tablespoon sugar

1/3 cup tamarind chutney

 

1) In a wok/pan heat the oil with the fenugreek seeds and chiles.

2) Cook till the chiles are dark and crisp and fenugreek is golden brown.

3) Add the kaddu to the pan.

4) Add the ground spices and salt.

5) Mix the contents of the pan nicely. 

6) Cover the pan/wok and cook for 20-25 minutes. Uncover every 5-6 minutes and stir and scrape and clean bottom.

7) Uncover, add sugar to the pan. Stir and allow sugar to melt, 2-3 minutes. 

8) Add the tamarind chutney. 

9) Stir the contents of the pan and cook for another 6-10 minutes, till the contents begin to stick to the bottom of the pan. 

10) You should see nice dark and delicious caramelized bits and bobs at the bottom of the pan and the Kaddu should be soft and breaking apart. 

11) Taste for salt and serve.

PS: Like with any vegetable cooked to successful result, the proof of the pudding lies in the taste. For coaxing out the essence of a vegetable, you have to roast it to a deep burnished color, and bring out the sugars of the vegetable and its flavors to max. See how far we have gone in caramelizing the pumpkin in the photo above. It is this that gives the dish a delicious flavor that abounds with delicious contrasts between sour, spicy and sweet.