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Kaddu, or Pumpkin, has been used in Indian cuisine for a long time. From savoury recipes to sweet dishes, the versatility of kaddu helps in transforming this one vegetable into many dishes. But despite all the good qualities, it’s the last thing you want to see on your platter.
If you, too are not a big fan of kaddu, then maybe you need to change your way of cooking it! The right balance of spices, perfect cooking duration, and meticulous attention to the texture plays a crucial factor in deriving the best flavours. As hard as it seems, it's actually quite easy to follow up.
Don’t believe it? Here are seven recipes you must try with kaddu tonight to see for yourself how kaddu can easily be the star of your dinner platter.
1) Stir Fried Kaddu Sabzi
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The classic stir-fried kaddu is one of the recipes that comes to mind when you are thinking of preparing kaddu. Mildly spicy with sweet hints of kaddu, this recipe can be paired with rice and roti for dinner. For the classic recipe, saute minced garlic, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, chopped onions and diced kaddu. Then add spices and let it cook until tender. Make sure it's well cooked for enhanced flavour.
2) Kaddu Masala Sabzi
With the masala base made of onion, ginger, and garlic paste, the classic stir-fried kaddu gets a new definition. The gravy base brings more volume to the recipe, and when the ingredients are ground, more flavours come out while stir-frying. Don’t forget to garnish the recipe with coriander and coconut shreds.
3) Pureed Kaddu Gravy
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If you're not in the mood of eating dry sabzi, why not make a rasam-based recipe? For this recipe, vegetable stalk is added to masala kaddu to create a thick gravy base. Determine the volume of the stalk by measuring it with the amount of kaddu you're cooking, make sure the stalk you add just barely covers up the entire recipe to make sure it's not diluted. As you are adding water, you can add more spices and onion-garlic paste to it to bring a concentrated flavour.
4) Kaddu Paratha
Why limit the deliciousness of kaddu to gravies? This time, make the easy-peasy kaddu paratha to eat with your favourite maa-ke-haath-ka achar. For kaddu paratha, whole wheat flour is mixed with a teaspoon of ginger-chilli paste, coriander, salt, turmeric powder, sesame seeds, boiled pumpkin puree and kneaded to a stiff dough. Diving the dough into a small portion, it is rolled into thin sheets and pan-fried with ghee on both sides.
5) Kaddu Pancakes
If you have cravings for something sweet, these kaddu pancakes will surely satisfy you. Yes, kaddu halwa is also possible, but why not take it up a notch? These laddu pancakes are made with whole wheat flour, so you don't have to be worried about health. Just make a thick and runny batter with flour, kaddu puree, honey, and cinnamon powder. Pan-fry it on both sides and serve it with sweet yoghurt.
6) Kaddu wali Daal
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Kaddu is popularly added to sambar. The sweet hints that kaddu adds is what makes it a special ingredient in the dish. You can whip this recipe up in just a pressure cooker. For this, chana dal, diced kaddu, coriander powder, amchur powder, garam masala, chilli ginger garlic paste and turmeric are added all together in a pressure cooker and loaded with water. After cooking for two whistles, the dal is ready to be tempered how you want and enjoyed with rice and roti.
