South Indian
Erissery (Kerala Pumpkin and Coconut Curry)
Erissery (Kerala Pumpkin and Coconut Curry) is South Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre and the cooked vegetable. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 3 cups red pumpkin, diced
- 1 cup black-eyed peas, dried and soaked, or cooked
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 3/4 cup grated coconut
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 green chilies
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 dried red chilies
- 10 curry leaves
- 1 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Pressure cook the black-eyed peas until tender, or use pre-cooked, then set aside.
- Simmer the diced pumpkin with the turmeric and water until soft enough to mash slightly but still holding some shape, about 15 minutes.
- Grind half the coconut with the cumin seeds and green chilies into a coarse paste and stir it into the pumpkin along with the cooked black-eyed peas and salt.
- Simmer together for 5 minutes until thick, then heat the coconut oil in a small pan and pop the mustard seeds with the dried red chilies and curry leaves.
- Pour the tempering over the erissery and top with the remaining raw grated coconut before serving.
Serve it with
A South Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Erissery (Kerala Pumpkin and Coconut Curry), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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What it is eaten with
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The sharp little thing
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Something cool and fresh
A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Erissery (Kerala Pumpkin and Coconut Curry) carries coconut. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | Yes | Adai (Tamil Nadu Multi-Lentil Dosa) |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Moderate
- Protein
- Medium
- Protein quality
- Partial
- Food groups it covers
- Vegetables, Pulses, and Nuts and seeds
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Erissery (Kerala Pumpkin and Coconut Curry) takes about 40 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on pumpkin, black-eyed peas, and coconut.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from South India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.