Mathanga curry Recipe

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

Red chillies - 3

Curry leaves - a few

Coconut oil - 2 tsp

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!