Elissery- Pumpkin and Black Chana Curry

This is for you Rana, Sumitha and Seema, for enjoying all the Kerala dishes that I make. This is a dish that you would find at any Sadya or feast.

Yellow Pumpkin peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes, I used a big wedge about 2 to 3 cups when cut up.

Black Chana 1 cup soaked for a few hours and cooked till tender or use canned Chickpeas

Turmeric 1/2 tsp

Chilli pwd/ Cayenne Pepper 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

To Grind-:1/2 cup, 3 green chilles, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Tempering-: 2 tsp coconut oil, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp udad dal, 2 red chillies,

3 tbsp grated coconut and curry leaves

Method:

• Cook the pumpkin with chilli pwd, turmeric, and salt.
• When half cooked add the cooked black chana.
• Once the pumpkin is cooked, add the ground paste.
• Cook for a few more minutes, it should be a thick gravy not too watery and not too dry.
• Heat oil for seasoning, add mustard seeds, once they splutter add red chillies and urad dal, once they are golden add curry leaves and coconut.
• Brown the coconut till it's golden brown but be careful not to burn it.
• This is the most important part, once the coconut is the right color add to the pumpkin.
• Serve with rice or chapatis.

Savory Kozhakatta (Steamed Rice Dumplings)

These dumplings are eaten in Kerala for a snack, in other parts it's also served as a prasadam, during Navratri, Ganesh Puja, VijayDashmi etc. There are different kinds of kozhakattas, they could be sweet filled with coconut and jaggery or made with different ingredients like coconut or carrot.
I made these for Navrathri, as I was feeling a little homesick missing all the fun that was going on in India, in the US all the holidays just go by, I have to keep asking my mom 'when's Diwali', no clue when any holiday is going on. Anyways for once I knew Navrathri was ending tomorrow, and hence the dish.

Dough:
2 cups Rice Flour
2 cups water
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup coconut grated

Grind:
4 Green chillies
1/4 tsp hing
1/4 cup water

Seasoning;
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 red chilles
a few curry leaves

Method:
1.Roast the rice flour on low heat for about 5 minutes, this gives a nice flavor to the rice.
2.Heat water, add salt and oil.
3.Grind the green chillies and hing with water.
4.Add the boiling water to the rice flour, add the ground up green chillies, and coconut.
5. Stir well, don't worry about the clumps.
6.Once the dough can be handled, knead it well and make a smooth dough.
7.Heat a steamer with water, spray the plate or steamer stand with oil.
8. Make about one inch balls, they don't have to be perfect rounds, just press themm together to make dumplings.
9.Place on the steamer tray, and steam for about 6 minutes.
10. For seasoning, heat oil, add mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.
11. Add the steamed kozhukatta, and stir well for a few minutes till dry.
12. Serve with chutney podi or chutney.