Delhiwale: Kaddu, with a sweet and sour twist

Private capital: She was the co-founder of a much loved restaurant in Delhi’s Hauz Khas Village but that place is history. Even so, she gladly brings its flavour to our home by sharing the recipe of its much-loved dish.

A sociology professor, Kiranmayi Bhushi lives in a book-filled apartment in south Delhi’s Asian Games Village. Ms Bhushi hails from Hyderabad, though she has been living in Delhi for 30 years. In 2009, she co-founded the iconic but now-defunct Gunpowder restaurant in Hauz Khas Village. For many regulars, the dish to swear by was the sweet & sour pumpkin.

For many patrons of the now-defunct Gunpowder restaurant in Hauz Khas Village, the dish to swear by was the sweet & sour pumpkin. (Mayank Austen Soofi / HT Photo)

Kiranmayi Bhushi, who co-founded the iconic but now-defunct Gunpowder restaurant in Hauz Khas Village. (Mayank Austen Soofi / HT Photo)

Here’s the recipe for four:

½ kilo pumpkin (look for the orange inside and green outside)
1 small knob of tamarind (size of a small lime)
An inch of jaggery
1/2 tablespoon red chilli powder
3-4 whole dried red chillies, each broken into two (can be kept whole if one desires to reduce the intensity)
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
10 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon ghee/butter
1 tablespoon oil
20-30 curry leaves

Dice pumpkin — after taking off the outer skin (bits of green skin add to the colour so do not peel off the skin completely) — into chunky two inch pieces.

Place the vegetable into a pressure cooker. Add tamarind, jaggery, chilly powder and 20ml water.

Lock the lid of the cooker and place it on the gas burner. One whistle or so is enough to cook the pumpkin. Make sure not to overcook it into a pulp.

Set aside the cooker. Add salt and mash the pumpkin lightly with a spatula. Avoid turning it into a mush.

The essence of this dish lies in the garnish or tadka. Pour ghee and oil in a small wok and place it over medium heat. Add crushed garlic a minute later and wait for it to turn brown. Now add mustard seeds and whole red chilies, and let them crackle and sputter. Throw in the curry leaves. Immediately transfer the tadka into the pumpkin mash. The dish is ready to serve.