Narkel Kumro – Pumpkin cooked with Coconut
My mallu friend A’s amma says that this dish is from Kerala. I believe her, as I am no expert on the Kerala cuisine. However, my mother says same dish minus the curry leaves is cooked in many parts of coastal Bangladesh as well as her home. It seems didon cooked it as well but used fenugreek seed instead of mustard seek. I never eat it before though. Today, I cooked it for the first time. Trust me, it was sooooo good. In addition, the combination is so unique to my palate that I just loved the newness of the recipe. The use of roasted coconut is the distinguishing feature of this dish. This is one of the two new dishes that I cooked during the weekend. I would recommend you to at least give it shot. Who knows you might just fall in love with it like me. Here is the recipe.
Ingredients
400-pumkpkin cut in to small dices
100-fresh/packed grated coconut ( you can use more if you like)
1/2- teaspoon chili powder
1/2 –teaspoon turmeric powder
1-teaspoon cumin seeds
10-curry leaves
½-teaspoon mustard seed
3/4 -dried red chili powder
1-tablesppon oil
Salt to taste
Method:
1) Heat 400ml water in a pan
2) Add the pumpkin and the half of the grated coconut
3) Also add salt, chili and turmeric powder and boil until pumpkin is almost cooked
4) Meanwhile in a blender combine the rest of the coconut and cumin seeds and make a paste
5) Heat oil in a pan
6) Add Mustard seed and fry them
7) Add dried red chili and curry leaves and fry a little. Do not make the chili go totally black
8) Add the coconut-cumin paste and fry until coconut is roasted well
9) Add the fried coconut-cumin mixture with the boiling pumpkin and cook for another 5/10 mins
10) Serve with boiled rice as side dish or one of the many main dish
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