Sweet and Sour Pumpkin Curry – Khatta Meetha Kaddu

Sweet and sour Pumpkin Curry or Khatta Meetha Kaddu is an extremely delicious, healthy, vegan and easy preparation that only requires common hosehold spices and seasonings. I have best memories enjoying Khatta meetha kaddu, with hot puffed puris and Kheer on a sunny but cold winter afternoon. In India Pumpkin is known by various names in different region and some most pupular names are Kaddu, Sitaphal, Kashiphal and Petha.

Easy Pumpkin (Kaddu) Recipe

The recipe of ‘kaddu ki sabzi’ is easy and does not require lot of ingredients. This North Indian pumpkin curry is an essential dish to many households during winter season. It is perhaps one of the most frequently made curries / sabzi for lunch and dinner because of its ease, convenience and simplicity. This curry does not require lot of special ingredients to create flavors. The flavor comes from the addition of fenugreek seeds (methi dana), ginger, raw mango and Jaggery. Yes, we do add most common and quintessential spices of Indian spice box like turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and garam masala. The sweetness from sugar in this case its jagggery enhances the subtle sweetness of the pumpkin.

My Love Affair with Pumpkin

Khatta-Meetha Kaddu is usually not appreciated or liked by large percentage of kids. But to my mom’s surprise, as a kid, I have always relished this curry whenever my mom used to make it along with puri, and kheer. Now my elder daughter also loves this pumpkin curry, so this has become a frequent dish in my kitchen as well. Probably that is the reason behind my love affair with other pumpkin recipes be it Pumpkin Spice Latte or Pumpkin Spiced Cheesecake. Pumpkin is a very versatile ingredient and can be enjoyed in various ways.

Nutiritious Pumpkin

Beyond its delicious taste, pumpkin is loaded with nutritious benefits and relatively very low in calorie. Pumpkin is considered to be a nutrient dense food which makes it incredibly healthy. One cup of cooked pumpkin only contains 50 calories as it is loaded with 94% of water. Pumpkin is high in vitamins and minerals and a great source of beta-carotene which body converts into Vitamin A and helps boost our immune system. Pumpkin is also loaded with vitamin C and E. Being rich in fiber helps to feel fuller with a small quantity of pumpkin.

Working with Different types of Pumpkins:

Over here in USA, we can only find orange pumpkins. Back in India, I remember getting pumpkins with green peels as well as yellow peels. The orange or yellow peels are tough to cook hence needs to be peeled and discard whereas peels of green pumpkin is soft and that variant is usually cooked with peels. You can also use butternut squash for exactly same recipe.

Portioned pumpkins were widely available in Indian markets, but in USA we mostly get to buy the whole of sugar pumpkin. So that needs to be peeled after cutting into halves seeds and membranes needs to be taken out along with peels. When I am in a hurry, sometime I just use clean and chopped butternut squash from market. Just remember that butternut squash releases a lot of water while cooking so you do not need to add any additional water.

So the prep work of pumpkin would change depending upon the variety and in what stage of the pumpkin you acquire. If it is a pumpkin with green peel then all it needs to be cubed and washed. But if it is a portion from a yellow peel pumpkin then it needs to be peeled, cubed and washed. However, orange sugar pumpkin needs the whole process of peeling, deseeding and chopping.

TIP: While you are working with whole pumpkin do not throw away the seeds. Roasted pumpkin seeds make the best nutritious snack, just spice them up with your favorite flavors and roast them in the oven.

Simple Flavors of Pumpkin curry:

Since pumpkin itself is blend in taste so it absorbs the flavors very well of the other ingredients it is being cooked with. It tastes best when cooked in mustard oil, but you can use whichever oil is available to you.

First it gets the flavor from fenugreek seeds (methi dana). While cooking with methi dana one precaution needs to be taken that it should not roast in oil for long by itself. Over roasting of seed make it bitter and give it an acrid aroma.

Add nuts to get a bite in the curry. Upon cooking pumpkin becomes soft and mushy to add the little bites I like to add nuts. Further adding nuts and seeds enhances the nutritional aspects of this curry. However, please completely skip nuts and seeds you are allergic to.

Since it is sweet and sour recipe the sour flavor of this curry comes from green mango but if you don’t have green mango in hand you can also use dry mango powder/tamarind pulp or lemon juice.  

Use Jaggery or sugar for the sweet flavor of the curry. Add jaggery and preferred sour agent when it is almost done. If you add them before then curry will take too long to cook.

Make sure you don’t mash it to hard while stirring the spices and sugar, stir it gently so it remain the shape and not turned into mushy texture.  

Pumpkin Curry Ingredients

Pantry-

• 4 tbs oil
• 1/4th cup mixed nuts

Produce-

• 450 grams/ pumpkin / kaddu, cubed
• Green Mango 1 medium size or 1 cup Chopped
• 1 inch ginger piece
• 3 green chillies
• 2 tbsp coriander, finely chopped

Spices-

• 1/8th or pinch of hing/asafoetida
• ¼ tsp Fenugreek seeds/ methi dana
• 1 tsp salt or adjust as per taste
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp red chilli powder/ cayenne pepper
• 1 tbs coriander powder
• 1 Tbs crushed Fennel Seeds
• 2 tbs jagerry Powder/ Brown Sugar
• ½ tsp garam masala

Pumpkin Curry Instructions

1.  In a wide wok or pan heat 2 Tbsp mustard oil on a medium heat, when heated add asafetida.
2. Then add Methi seeds, chopped chili and ginger. Stir until it turns aromatic.
3. Further add nuts and sauté for a minute.
4. Then add cubed pumpkin to the pan. Additionally, add salt and turmeric powder and stir everything together.
5. Cover it with a lid for a minute or two.
6. Remove the lid and check if pumpkin has released any water. If not then add ¼ cup water and stir again.
7. Cover and cook for 10 minutes stirring in between. Make sure the heat remains medium only. 
8. Cook until the pumpkin is little soft, if curry seems to be too dry then add another ¼ cup of water.
9. Then add raw mango and all the spices.
10. Cook for few more minutes until pumpkin absorbs all the flavors.
11. Finish the curry by adding jaggery and garam masala.
12. Finally add chopped cilantro before serving and enjoy this sweet and sour Pumpkin Curry puris.

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Other pumpkin recipe on EYP that may interest you – Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake: