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Khatta meetha seethaphal (sweet and sour pumpkin)

Gary Rhodes from Rhodes Across India
Sweet and sour flavours combine with subtle spicing in this Marwari vegetable dish from Gunjan Goela Watch the video recipe

Khatta meetha seethaphal (sweet and sour pumpkin)

Method

1. Soak the fenugreek seeds in a small bowl of water for an hour. Drain.

2. Mix the coriander, chilli powder and turmeric with 50ml of water to make a spice paste.

3. Heat the mustard oil in a deep pan and add the drained fenugreek seeds, which will splutter in the hot oil. Add the green and red chillies to the pan followed by a pinch of asafoetida and the chopped ginger. Stir well and leave to fry for a minutes.

4. Add the spice paste to the pan and cook, stirring for 1-2 minutes. Add the diced pumpkin and stir to coat with the spices. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring.

5. Add 100ml of water to the pan and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until just tender. Top up with a little more water if it begins to dry out.

6. When the pumpkin is tender, remove the chillies from the pan as they will now have added their heat. Stir in the jaggery and mango powder, the sweet and the sour. Cook for another 10 minutes so the sauce thickens and the pumpkin becomes very soft and tender.

Cook's note: Marwari cuisine is high vegetarian, meaning not even onion or garlic are used. A similar flavour is instead imparted by the use of asafoetida (hing).

About Gunjan Goela
Gunjan Goela works with top-end hotels, resurrecting traditional Marwari vegetarian dishes for the five star palate. As Marwari cuisine is often regarded as limited (using only the ingredients available from the Rajasthan desert region), Gunjan adds modern flavours and techniques to traditional dishes.

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Serves: 4

Prep: 10 min, plus 1 hr soaking
Cook: 30 min

Ingredients
1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric
2 tbsp mustard oil
2 large green chillies, broken in half
2 dried red chillies, broken in half
pinch Asafoetida, (hing)
1 tbsp finely chopped Ginger
500g pumpkin, chopped into 1cm cubes
1 tbsp Jaggery, crumbled
1 tsp dried mango powder, (available from Indian shops)
1 1/2 tsp Salt