This is the first time I tried making fresh pasta at home. I don’t have a pasta maker so had to make do with my trusty wooden rolling pin. I am sure the pasta could have been thinner if there was a pasta machine, I just didn’t have the strength to roll the dough out any thinner, next time I’ll make it when my brother is around, I am pretty sure he’ll be game for a show of strength especially when the results will be as delicious as this ravioli was. The original recipe called for 2 eggs, I used one. So if you don’t mind using eggs, go ahead and use two eggs. I also forgot to add the sundried tomato in the filling so I used it as garnish, but I am sure adding it into the filling will be even better.

Ingredients
for the pasta:
1 cup AP flour
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
4 tablespoons fresh coriander, finely chopped
pinch of salt

for the filling:
4 cloves garlic on its skin
2 cups pumpkin cubes, cooked
1/2 cup cottage cheese/paneer
4 pieces sundried tomatoes, chopped
freshly ground black pepper

Method
1. Place the flour, salt, egg, milk and finely chopped coriander on a lightly floured board and knead into a smooth dough. Cover and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 200 C. Place the garlic on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes until soft.
3. Separately mash the pumpkin, and cottage cheese.
4. In a large bowl place the mashed pumpkin, cottage cheese, drained and chopped sundried tomatoes, mashed garlic, and mix well. Season with some salt and lots of freshly ground pepper.

5. Divide the dough into 4 portions and roll out as thinly as humanly possible (if you have a pasta machine you need to roll out to 3mm thickness), and leave the pasta on a dish towel until it dries out a bit.

6. Using a 3 inch crinkle edged round cutter stamp out 30 rounds of pasta, I used all the bits and bobs and rolled out again and cut up almost the entire dough.

7. Top 15 rounds with spoonfuls of the filling and brush the edges with water and place another round of pasta on top. Press firmly around the edges to seal.
8. Bring a large pan of water to boil, add salt, add the ravioli and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, the pasta when cooked will rise up to the surface of the water.
9. Drain well and toss with the drained oil from the sundried tomatoes. Sprinkle with pepper and a few sprigs of fresh coriander. Nice!

copyright 2010 eat.write.think

To serve 4

Ingredients
1/2 kg red pumpkin, cubed
2 onions
green chillies to taste
an inch of ginger
1 heaped teaspoon of jeera
1 small stick of cinnamon
salt and turmeric to taste
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
3 tablespoons of channa dal soaked in water

Method
1. Grind the onions, chillies, ginger, jeera and cinnamon to a paste.

2. Heat up oil in a saucepan, add jeera and a bay leaf.

3. When the jeera splutters, add the onion paste. [i also like to add slit green chillies to the oil] Let it cook. Add salt, haldi and some aamchur.

4. Add the pumpkin pieces and the soaked channa dal. If its too dry, pour in about half a cup of water. Cover with a lid and let it cook on a low flame.

5. When it’s all done, garnish with chopped coriander and enjoy with hot rotis!

P.S. as is the case with many of my posts, there’s no complete dish picture…forgot! Still getting used to blogging

About the author: Nina is a film maker based in Bangalore, India.  She likes to eat and feed her friends; loves animals and a good laugh. To see more about her work visit Elephant Corridor.

In the summers when the pumpkin patch would bloom, my grandmother would watch with hawk eyes, expertly pointing out the male and female blossoms. The swollen female blossoms were tended to very lovingly, they would after all be the providers of sweet, juicy and delicious pumpkins. By mid summer fully grown pumpkins will be basking and ripening under the summer sun.

Already pumpkin starts figuring heavily on the family lunch menu. Few of the male blossoms have been roasted and incorporated into chutneys, few precious one have been batter fried, pumpkin leaves are chopped up and cooked into stir fries, the family not wasting any part of the pumpkin prelude.

A good harvest will mean all kinds of stews, chutneys and curries made of pumpkin. Even then a few pumpkins are too ripe and too sweet for curries, these are grated and boiled with milk, sugar, and cardamom, until they are caramalised and then eaten as halwa. Some pumpkins are chopped, steamed, mildly spiced and then sun dried, to be fried later as snacks or a crunchy accompaniment to an elaborate sunday lunch. And always, always a pumpkin or two were allowed to ripen, and, the seeds from these, dried, mixed with ash, wrapped in a piece of newspaper, secured with jute cord and put away for another summer.

Pumpkin pachchadi is just another regular home food that was prepared by my grandmother who had the greatest task of all, cooking up all the summer pumpkins and making sure it always tasted different, exciting and delicious.

Ingredients

2 cups pumpkin, chopped

1 cup coconut, grated

1/2 cup yoghurt, whipped

1 tablesoon whole mustard

1 teaspoon turmeric

Salt to taste

Seasoning

1 tablespoon coconut oil/cooking oil

1 teaspoon whole mustard seeds

1 sprig curry leaves

2 sun dried whole, red chilly

Method

1. In  a covered saucepan, on medium heat, cook the chopped pumpkin along with salt, turmeric and a sprinkling of water until soft.

2. In the meantime, make a coarse paste of grated coconut, mustard and yoghurt, in your blender.

3. When the pumpkin is cooked, reduce the flame to a low, add the coconut mustard paste, and combine. Cover and let simmer for about 2, 3 minutes.

4. For the seasoning, heat oil in another saucepan, fry the mustard, red chilly and curry leaves, and pour over the cooked pachchadi.

Pachchadi is a great accompaniment to a meal, ofcourse it can be the main meal as well. This particular pachchadi combines 6 tastes, sweetness from the pumpkin, pungency of mustard, tartness from curds, salt and spice from the chilly, the addition of turmeric ofcourse always take care of the three basic tastes in any case – bitter, pungent & astringent.

1. Cook pumpkin along with salt and turmeric till soft.
2. Make a coarse paste of grated coconut, mustard and yoghurt and add to the cooked pumpkin and allow to come to a boil, let simmer till its thickish.
3. Heat oil and temper the mustard, red chilly and curry leaves, pour over the pachadi.

Serve with hot, steaming rice.

In no particular order and in equal measure – Mustard, Cumin, Fenugreek, Fennel & Nigella. The famous Five of the classic bengali kitchen.

I love most bengali food – and anything with paanch phoron I am very very partial towards. My sister in law who spend many of her growing up years in parts of West Bengal and Assam shared this pumpkin recipe with me. I love it. love it. love it!

Ingredients

Red Pumpkin – 1/2 kg
Green Chilly – 1
Curry Leaves – 5,6
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Sugar – 1 tsp
Salt to Taste
Mustard oil/any cooking oil – 1 Tbsp

Method

1. Cube the pumpkin and slit the green chilly.

2. Heat oil in a kadahi or deep skillet, if using mustard oil then wait until the oil smokes, reduce flame and drop in the paanch phoron tempering. It will splutter immediately.

3. Now add the curry leaves & green chilly, followed by the pumpkin, turmeric, salt & sugar.

4. Fry on high for about a minute, lower flame and cook covered. Until done.

Combine the Pumpkin Paanch Phoron with rice, paratha or eat it all by itself!!