pui saag

maintaining this blog isn't easy, especially after you've eaten what you want to blog about and there's no photo. luckily i could document this one. this traditional recipe in bengali homes is simple and sweet. called pui saag, it's made from the tender leaves of pumpkin and pumpkin.
You will need -
500g tender leaves of pumpkin
500g pumpkin cut into cubes
2-3 onions diced 
2 tsp five spices
chillies depending on how spicy you want it to be
3-4 tsp mustard oil
turmeric
chilli powder
salt to taste

Heat oil, add the five spices (paanch phoren), chillies and saute

Add the pumpkin and saute, let it cook. Shut the lid while cooking

Cut and wash the leaves well before you add it into the curry

Add the leaves and let it cook for more time. Shut the vessel.There's no need to add extra water,it can cook in its own juice.

Pretty simple, huh?

what we ate last night - Pulingari

Most people outside of South India will not know about Pulingari or Vellaiappam. I've seen that their knowledge is restricted to the more popular ones as dosha (better known as dosa), coconut chutney, sambar (pronounced samBAR), and idlis.
Pulingari looks a bit like sambar but it isn't. On many occasions, I have had to say the curry is a cousin of sambar or it's just like sambar but has different ingredients altogether. The name does not really exist or is forgotten after the first slurp. I imagine Pulingari can be broken into two words - Puli and Gari. Puli is tamarind in Malayam and Gari, I think, is actually curry. I haven't asked my mother about it but she may have a better answer.This is how we make Punlingari

Pulingari
Ingredients
Red Pumpkin - half kg
Tamarind (size of one lemon)
Arhar dal (Tuvar dal) - one cup
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Chilli powder - a pinch
salt to taste

For grinding
dry Red chillies - 4
Methi seeds - 1 spoon
a pinch of asofoetida
coconut - two table spoons


For garnish
some corainder leaves
2 or 3 curry leaves
a bit of mustard seeds
and one or two red chillies
one or two spoons of any cooking oil, preferably coconut oil. mustard oil not preferred.

1. put the tamarind in warm water and squeeze the juice out and add to the chopped pumpkin. If the pumpkin needs more water. water level should be on the same level as the pumpkin.
2. Put the pumpkin on boil, add the turmeric and chilli powder and salt and pressure cook the dal separately. You can also put a smaller container with the pumpkin inside the pressure cooker.
3. Meantime, heat the methi seeds and chillies together. Once heated, turn off the gas and add the asofoetida and coconut and sautee. Grind all to a fragrant paste.
4. Once the dal and pumpkin are ready, add the two together and boil. Once the two have blended well, add the paste and cook some more time. add the corainder leaves now so that it cooks inside.
5. For garnishing, heat some oil and add the mustard seeds and chillies. when it begins to sputter, add the curry leaves. Pour the contents into the curry immediately.

Pulingari is ready. Instead of pumpkin you can use the white pumpkin as well.