Recipe for Arasanikai Poriyal. An everyday south Indian Yellow Pumpkin Stir-Fry recipe made with sauteed pumpkins and coconut. Recipe with step by step pictures.
Arasanikai or Yellow Pumpkin is my husband’s favorite veggie at home and this is a very simple everyday stir-fry recipe that can be put together in minutes.
Here is how to do Arasanikai Poriyal.
Heat oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Let the mustard seeds crackle. Add in the curry leaves. Add in the chopped onions and saute for a couple of minutes.
Add in the chopped pumpkin. I remove the skin off of the pumpkin as it can be a little fibrous. In some households, if the pumpkin is young, they do cook the pumpkins along with the skin. Its a personal preference. But if its a mature pumpkin, the skin will be hard and fibrous. So do not use the skin of a mature pumpkin.
Add in half a cup of water. Add in a teaspoon of sambar powder and salt. At home, we also add half a teaspoon of jaggery. We like the little sweetness of the jaggery in pumpkin.
Cover the pan with a lid and cook on a medium flame for about 6-7 minutes. Pumpkin cooks very fast. It will become mushy if its overcooked. So do not add too much water.
Use a spatula to cut the pumpkin piece into half to check if its tender. If the pumpkin is not tender, add few tablespoons of water and cook for a minute or two more. Once the pumpkin is cooked and tender, add in the fresh shredded coconut and remove from heat.
Serve hot with rice.
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil (Indian gingely oil)
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 sprigs curry leaves
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 500 grams yellow pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon sambar powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon jaggery
- ¼ cup shredded coconut
- Heat oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Let the mustard seeds crackle. Add in the curry leaves. Add in the chopped onions and saute for a couple of minutes.
- Add in the chopped pumpkin.
- Add in half a cup of water. Add in a teaspoon of sambar powder, jaggery and salt.
- Cover the pan with a lid and cook on a medium flame for about 6-7 minutes.
- Once the pumpkin is cooked and tender, add in the fresh shredded coconut and remove from heat.
- Serve hot with rice
Akka. You are becoming a household name even in US. Yesterday a friend of mine recommended your blog to me. I couldn’t have been prouder.
Thank you so much Aishu! This success actually belongs to all of us!
I love your little stories to go with each recipe involving a memory or a person. Ofcourse the poriyal looks delish.
Thank you so much!