Summer has arrived here, in Mumbai. The heat left me stunned when I went for my walk last evening, and today, it’s even hotter …it’s only going to get worse day by day.
Sigh.
As the season changes, it becomes important that we plan meals that help us stay cool from within. For, apart from staying indoors during the day time, wearing cool cottons and staying hydrated, it’s only the food that we eat that will provide us with the cool respite we crave during summer.
So, today, I decided to make myself a cooling pumpkin raita for lunch. It’s what mum prepares often and I love, immensely.
PUMPKIN AND CURD RAITA
Ingredients:
Pumpkin – 200 gms
Curd – 1 cup
Finely chopped green chilli – 1
Salt – to taste
Sugar – a half a teaspoon
Ghee/Oil and cumin seeds – for tempering
Finely chopped fresh coriander leaves – for garnishing
Nutritional Value:
Pumpkin – Antioxidants such as beta carotene (found in orange coloured vegetables and fruits) that helps protect the body from cancer, heart diseases and age-related degeneration.
It contains Vitamin C, fibre and potassium that keep the heart healthy.
Curd: Has high protein and calcium content that keeps the bones healthy and the body energised through the day. It helps in better digestion thanks to the live bacteria and is good for the skin, too!
Method:
Wash the pumpkin thoroughly and slice off the skin. You don’t need to throw away the skin, but can use it to make this crispy chutney–my mum’s recipe.
Chop the pumpkin in cubes and pressure cook for 10 minutes.
Once cooked, bring it out and allow it to cool.
After cooling, squeeze out the water of the pumpkin and mash it well.
Beat the thick curd in a bowl and add salt and sugar as per your preference.
Add the mashed pumpkin to the curd and mix well.
Heat ghee in a tadka pan. If you don’t have/use ghee, use oil. Mum insists on using ghee as it tastes better and adds to the nutritional value of the pumpkin raita.
Crush half a teaspoon of cumin seeds in your palm and add it to the hot oil.
Allow the cumin to sputter and then add finely chopped green chilli. Switch off the gas and add this to the raita.
Garnish with coriander and serve.
The Vitamin A-rich pumpkin is low in calories and rich in fibre.
Curd is loaded with the good, gut-friendly bacteria and helps in digestion.
Combining these two gives you a recipe that’s good for your heart, your skin, your digestion and also helps you stay cool in summer!
My lunch for today…
Do try out this cool pumpkin raita and let me know if you enjoyed it!
Love,
SHILPA…
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This sounds delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe for it.
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It is delicious, Lydia! 🙂
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Ah what a great combo. I’m going to try out the raitha and the chutney. Thanks, Shilpa.
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Do try it out, Corinne! I think you will like it, if you like curd and pumpkin.
🙂
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I have never tried pumpkin raita before. We do make cucumber and radish raita. This sounds great as pumpkin is one of my favorite vegetables 😀
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Pumpkin is my fav veggies, too! I am sure you will enjoy the raita, Raj! 🙂
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Wow, pumpkin raita that’s definitely a new for me. I love trying different things with curd, favorite is bathue-ka-raita or eggplant and curd. Will try this soon Shilpa, thanks for sharing.
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Now, eggplant raita is definitely new to me!
Will ask mom to make it someday. I am allergic to eggplant, so stay away from it, but mum likes it, so I think she will like its raita, too!
Thanks, Dipika!
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This is the first time I am hearing about pumpkin raita. Looks delicious, Shilpa. Will try it out soon. 🙂
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DO try it out,Vini! It’s really cool, in every sense of the word! 😛
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Wow Shilpa this one is a new one for me. Never knew we could make a pumpkin raita. I love pumpkin Sabji with Puri and pumpkin soup, but this summer cooler sounds so unique and out of the box.
Will try soon, and also look up the pumpkin chutney.
Thanks Shilpa.
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Natasha, you have to share your pumpkin soup recipe with me someday. I have come to enjoy pumpkin–be it as sabji, or this raita, or the teekha puri mom makes sometimes. It tastes so yummy with the aam ka achaar! God, my tummy is rumbling even as I type out these awesome words! 😛
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Definitely Shilpa. All this food talk is making me hungry too. Drool!
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Kaddu ka raita sounds a novelty. I have never had it in my life though my mother used to prepare different kinds of raitas but then she had angelic kids who ate everything 😀 I am not that blessed mother or a wife whose kid and husband can eat whatever new I try to make. They will just eat what they regularly eat and that it boondi ka raita. I will suggest it to my mother and see if we can make it during the time I will be staying with her. Bangalore is hottest in April.
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Haha! I hear you! My mother too had angelic kids who ate even the kaddu ki sabji because she called it “Chocolate ki sajji”!
Do try out this raita, and let me know if you liked it!
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Shilpa, I am going to Mother Dairy to buy pumpkin after I post my comment here. Your recipe is so good that I am drooling. I love pumpkin and make kadhi with it all the time. Thanks.
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Aww…that’s lovely! If you like pumpkin, then I am sure you will like this raita.
By the way, how do you prepare pumpkin kadhi?That’s something I have never heard before! Do share the recipe SUlu!
And, let me know how you liked the raita!
Thanks! ❤
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Love pumpkin and raita. I make this often. I love the white pumpkin too – great for summer and weight management 🙂 Stay cool, Shilpa.
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I need to make this now. Sounds simple to make and healthy too. Thanks for the recipe. I haven’t had pumpkin a lot growing up so I need to develop a taste for it.
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It is very simple, Parul. And, I shared it because I prefer simple recipes! 😛
Hope you like it. 🙂
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Exactly like me 😬
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This is totally new to me. Will try it this weekend!!
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Do it, D. It’s a fav 😊
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This looks and sounds amazing! I love a good pumpkin recipe 😊
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Thank you! I hope you like it. 🙂
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I didnt know you could make a raita out of pumpkin- will try this and then tell you!! 🙂
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