Erissery | Kerala Style Pumpkin in Spiced Coconut Sauce

One of the main dishes in Onam Sadya, Mathanga Erissery is rich with the goodness of green gram and pumpkin. This traditional Kerala dish is a sure-shot winner for a side-dish any day.

I have told you before, I was a picky eater as a child. I hated veggies of any form unless and until it was added in a bowl of fried rice. So, my Mum had to make her own version of the Chinese fried rice adding all those veggies which I loathed, including broccoli. Even now, until recently (read yesterday!!), I could never make up mind to even taste this dish – Erissery. And now I know what I was missing all these years!

This humble traditional Kerala food is a sweet and spicy curry with the sweetness coming from pumpkin and coconut. It is also one of the main dishes of a Kerala Sadya (‘The Feast”), which has about 24-26 dishes served in a banana leaf. Vishu, the harvest festival of Kerala is coming up in a few days and Sadya is prepared. A typical Kerala Sadya include:

Pickles, Chips, Pappad – Kerala Mango Pickle
Avial
Thoran
Pachadi
Kichadi
Erissery
Kaalan
Olan
Kootu Curry
Parippu
Sambar
Pulissery
Rasam
Sambaram and
Payasam
Now, you can have 2-3 varieties of Thoran, Pachadi, and Kichadi. You can also include different Payasams or Kheer (pudding).

How to Make Mathanga Erissery

Cook green gram in about 3/4 cup of water a pressure cooker for about 4-5 whistles. Once the pressure is released, add cubed pumpkin, yam, and raw banana along with slit green chilies, curry leaves, turmeric powder, Kashmiri red chili powder, about half cup water, and salt. Cook for another two whistles in medium flame.

Meanwhile, coarsely grind grated coconut, garlic, and cumin seeds. Once the pressure is released from the pressure cooker, make a well in the middle and add the coconut mixture and about a quarter cup water. Close off the well with the yam-pumpkin mix.

Cook for sometime. It does not have a curry-like consistency.

There are two temperings for this dish. First, dry roast about half a cup of grated coconut. Add to the dish and mix well. Second, in coconut oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, and dry red chilies. Pour it atop the dish and serve hot with rice.

Notes:
You can substitute green gram with red cowpea beans and pumpkin with ripe papaya. Follow the same recipe.

Erissery Recipe:

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Erissery

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Recipe by: Shalini

Category: Side Dish

Cuisine: Kerala

Ingredients

5

• 1/2 cup Green gram
• 250 gms Yam, cubed
• 250 gms Pumpkin, cubed
• 1 Raw banana, cubed,
• 3-4 Green chilies, slit
• 3-4 sprigs of Curry leaves,
• Salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
• 3/4 cup Grated coconut
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 3/4 tbsp Cumin seeds

Tempering:
• 1/2 cup Grated coconut
• 3 tbsp Coconut oil
• 1 tsp Mustard seeds
• 2 sprigs Curry leaves,
• 2-3 Dry red chilies

Instructions

1. Cook green gram in about 3/4 cup of water a pressure cooker for about 4-5 whistles.
2. Once the pressure is released, add cubed pumpkin, yam, and raw banana along with slit green chilies, curry leaves, turmeric powder, Kashmiri red chili powder, about half cup water, and salt.
3. Cook for another two whistles in medium flame.
4. Meanwhile, coarsely grind grated coconut, garlic, and cumin seeds.
5. Once the pressure is released from the pressure cooker, make a well in the middle of the yam-pumpkin mixture.
6. Add the coconut mixture and about a quarter cup of water. Close off the well with the yam-pumpkin mix. Cook for some time to attain a semi-solid consistency. The final dish isn’t liquidy and curry-like.
7. There are two temperings for this dish. First, dry roast about half a cup of grated coconut. Add to the dish and mix well.
8. Second, in coconut oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, and dry red chillies. Pour it atop the dish.
9. Serve hot with rice.

6.4.18

https://somethingiscooking.com/2019/04/05/kerala-style-mathanga-erissery/

That’s all for now!
Have you had Erissery? Have you made it at home? If yes, do you use green gram or cowpea beans for this recipe?
I hope you’ll drop by tomorrow too.

My theme for the A to Z Challenge this year is ’26 Kerala Dishes that have my heart’, where I would share a multitude of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes from the Spice Capital of the World- Kerala!

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P. S: Do you want to treat yourself with some great book recommendations this Spring? Head over to my lifestyle blog where I would be sharing 26 books, authors and fictional characters that I love, loathe and tolerate.

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