Erissery (with pumpkin or mathanga) is a typical Kerala Onam sadya recipe that’s almost always made during a festival or wedding. I realised a couple of weeks back that its been quite a while since I posted any Kerala recipe in here. It wasn’t surprising because when I think of making a new dish, I always try to look up Brahmin recipes since that’s something TH would enjoy and something I can learn too.
But on this particular weekend, I was all “I want Kerala food, coconut all the way”. I usually shop for my vegetables for the week on Sunday evenings but that weekend, I headed off bright and early, ok 11am to be precise, on Saturday and guess what I saw first thing I stepped into the vegetable section.
This beauty right here. I am no pumpkin lover but erissery has always held a soft spot in my heart. Mom doesn’t make it that often, actually. She makes pumpkin koottu more often, with dal. But erissery is a quintessential part of the Onam Sadya and I realised I haven’t even tried it myself yet. That idea and this pumpkin combined, and the rest is history 😉
I couldn’t resist more pictures of the pumpkin. It was bright orange-yellow and smooth spotless on the outside. Since this was during Chinese New Year, vegetables in Singapore supermarkets were fresh and mostly from China.
If you would like to check out more Kerala recipes, then my favourites are inji curry, Kerala avial, and cabbage thoran.
Ingredients
(serves 4 as a side)
Pumpkin / mathanga – 3 cups, peeled and cut into 1″ cubes
Grated coconut – 1/2 cup (fresh works best but you can use frozen too)
Cumin / jeera / jeerakam – 1 tsp
Green chillies – 2, or to taste
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
For tempering
Mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Grated coconut – 4 tbsp
Shallots – 3, sliced
Shallots – 3, sliced
Red chillies – 3
Curry leaves – a few
Coconut oil – 2 tsp (or any other oil you have)
How to Make Pumpkin Erissery:
1. Boil the pumpkin in 1/4 cup water with salt and turmeric, until soft. This should take about 7 to 10 mins.
2. Grind coconut, green chillies and jeera to a paste with requred amount of water. Add this to the cooked pumpkin and keep fire on sim. Adjust water if the curry is too thick at this stage. Add spoonfuls at a time so that it doesn’t get too watery. If curry is too watery, then let it boil or add 1 tsp of rice flour mixed in 2 tsp water. Cook until desired consistency is reached, add salt and keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the urad dal, shallots and red chillies. Fry until the dal turns golden brown and the shallots turn transparent. Tear curry leaves and add to this. Mix well and pour directly over the cooked pumpkin curry.
4. In the same pan, add the 4 tbsp coconut and fry on low heat till crispy and golden brown. Mix this into the curry and serve with steamed rice and pickles. Adding the fried coconut in the end is very important for the flavour of the curry so don’t skip this step!
Thanks for this great recipe! I was looking for a way to use up some butternut squash and I immediately thought of your site and all of it's yumminess.
I'm still new to Indian cooking (but not Indian eating) and I was thinking about the pumpkin curry my mother-in-law makes – so I thought I'd give it a shot.This turned out really well and wasn't too hard, even for a beginner like me.
I wasn't sure how it turned out, so I gave a bite to my husband. His response, "Mmm, it's good…it reminds be of Kerala." Success!
Thanks again…
that really IS a mighty success for you and the recipe Carly 🙂 Thank you so much for dropping me a line to let me know the recipe worked for you!
I tried calling my mom for this recipe and could not get through her so my second option was to check out your blog! I made it for a potluck and everyone loved it and asked me for the receipe. I love what you make and love your presentation too! Good job 🙂
that is such an amazing compliment. so glad the recipe worked!
my idea was that garlic is inevitable for erissery. is it a regional thing? but we are from the same region! 😛
Its possible I just didn't know that 😀
Wow droolwothy pic. Awesome clicks dear. Never tasted this veggie before. Curry looks yum. Just dropped a mail. Check it dear.
Loved the pictures of the pumpkin..only you could have made it look so pretty;-).We make a similar dish called Alchikeri[Konkani],and I love both.Only difference is we skip the shallot part.
pumpkin & Coconut what a combination ..looks very delicious …. nice click
love the erissery..the pics of the mathanga are really good..those who dont like this vegetable will also like it! 😀