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Poosanikai rasavangi
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Poosanikai Rasavangi Recipe - White Pumpkin Kootu For Rice

Traditional Tamil Nadu style Poosanikai rasavangi (white pumpkin kootu) made easily in a pressure cooker with freshly roasted lentils, spices and coconut paste. A flavorful, comforting side dish for rice!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Course: Kootu recipes, Kuzhambu recipes
Cuisine: South Indian
Servings: 3 servings
Author: Chitra

Ingredients

Main Ingredients

  • 15 cubes White pumpkin / Vellai poosanikai (approx. 2 cups / 250 g / 8.8 oz) peeled and seeded, cut into big cubes
  • 1 tbsp Coconut oil (approx. 15 ml / 0.5 fl oz)
  • ½ tsp Mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp Urad dal
  • 1 sprig Curry leaves
  • Tamarind (medium gooseberry size / approx. 15 g / 0.5 oz) soaked in water to extract 1 cup juice
  • ¼ tsp Turmeric powder
  • Salt and water as needed

To Roast & Grind

  • 1 ½ tsp Chana dal (approx. 8 g)
  • 1 ½ tsp Urad dal (approx. 8 g)
  • 1 tbsp Coriander seeds / dhania (approx. 10 g)
  • 3 - 5 Dry red chillies adjust to spice preference
  • 2 tsp Cooking oil (approx. 10 ml) for roasting
  • 3 tbsp Grated coconut (approx. 20 g / 0.7 oz) fresh or frozen
  • ¼ tsp Asafoetida / hing
  • 1 tbsp Fresh coriander leaves finely chopped to garnish

Instructions

  • Wash and cut the pumpkin into two halves. Slice them into big pieces and remove the seeds in the middle. Chop into big cubes and slice the skin. Set aside. Soak tamarind in water, take 1 cup extract and keep aside.
    Prepping white pumpkin into big cubes and extracting tamarind juice
  • In a small kadai, heat oil and roast the dhania, urad dal, chana dal, red chillies and hing till golden. Remove and grind with coconut to a smooth powder.
    Roasting coriander seeds urad dal chana dal red chillies and grinding with coconut into rasavangi powder
  • Heat coconut oil in a cooker base. Splutter mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves. Add chopped pumpkin pieces and turmeric powder, then saute for a minute.
    Tempering mustard urad dal curry leaves in coconut oil and sauteing pumpkin pieces with turmeric
  • Add tamarind extract, salt and 1 cup of water. Add the ground powder. Pressure cook on low flame for one whistle.
    Adding tamarind extract salt and ground spice powder to cooker before pressure cooking
  • Open the cooker after steam is released completely. Garnish with coriander leaves and mix well. Serve hot with rice.
    Opening cooker and garnishing hot poosanikai rasavangi with fresh coriander leaves

Notes

  • Adjust the quantity of red chillies as per your taste.
  • Do not add more tamarind because pumpkin will absorb all the tangy taste.
  • Usually my MIL cooks the pumpkin separately and adds it to the gravy, but I make everything in a cooker for ease.
  • Adding chana dal, urad dal and coconut gives thickness to the gravy.
  • We usually mix this gravy with rice. You can also make it thick and serve as kootu for vathakuzhambu rice.