I have been subscribing to a vegetable basket directly from an organic farmer for several years now. The arrangement is that the farmer will deliver 10 kgs. of whatever vegetable grown on his farm. The arrangement works out well since I am assured of seasonal and local produce regularly. There is only one drawback – I keep getting the same vegetables week after week, throughout the season. It needs a lot of inventiveness and innovation to make the same vegetable in different styles. This season, it seems that all organic farmers have decided to grow green pumpkin. Generally, I like this vegetable. But there aren’t too many recipes using green pumpkin. Hari invariably makes an erisseri. When I had had enough of this, I taught him a pachadi. I got bored of that too, soon enough. The next bit of experimentation was a chutney – and it turned out to be really delightful.

Ingredients
2 cups green pumpkin, chopped
2 green chillies
1 marble sized ball of tamarind, deseeded
A pinch of turmeric powder (haldi powder, manjal podi)
3 tbsp grated coconut
1 tbsp split black gram (urad dal, ulutham parupu)
2 dried red chillies
Salt to taste
1 cup water
Method
Heat a wok
Add chopped pumpkin, green chillies, tamarind and turmeric powder
Add the water
Cook on medium for 10 minutes
Set aside to cool
Heat a wok
Add the dried red chillies, grated coconut and split black gram
Roast till the coconut turns a golden colour
Remove from flame and cool
Transfer to a blender
Add the cooked pumpkin
Grind everything into a smooth chutney
Add a little water if the chutney is too thick
Transfer to a serving bowl
Serve at room temperature with idli, dosa…
Enjoy!