Erissery with rice
A sadhya favourite for Onam and Vishu, and an everyday lunch in Kerala too: yellow pumpkin and red cowpeas (vanpayar) cooked soft with black pepper, lightly mashed with a paste of coconut, cumin and green chilli, and topped with coconut fried deep golden in coconut oil with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Eaten with Kerala matta rice. Soak the cowpeas overnight. Some homes make it with raw banana and yam instead of pumpkin.
- 45 minTime
- 30 minHands-on
- 4Portions
- 14 gprotein per portion
- 610kcal per portion
Ingredients for 4 portions
- 100 gLobia (black-eyed peas), red (vanpayar), soaked overnight
- ≈ 400 mlWater, for the cooker
- to tasteSalt
- 500 gPumpkin, peeled, in 2 cm cubes
- 3 mlTurmeric
- 3 mlRed chilli powder
- 3 mlBlack pepper, crushed
- ≈ 200 mlWater, for the pumpkin
- 100 gGrated coconut, for the paste
- 3 mlCumin, seeds
- 2Green chillies
- 2 tbspCoconut oil
- 1 tspMustard seeds
- 2Dried red chillies
- 2 sprigsCurry leaves
- 50 gGrated coconut, for roasting
On the side
- 300 gRice, Kerala matta
Method
- Wash the rice and add it to a large pot of boiling water.
- Boil the rice uncovered on a medium flame for 35–40 minutes, until the grains are soft but whole, then drain in a colander.
- Drain the soaked cowpeas and put them in the pressure cooker with the water and a little salt.
- Pressure-cook on a medium flame for 4 whistles, about 12 minutes, and let the pressure drop by itself. The cowpeas should be soft but whole.
- Peel the pumpkin, scoop out the seeds and cut it into 2 cm cubes.
- Grind the coconut for the paste with the cumin and green chillies to a coarse paste with a splash of water.
- Put the pumpkin in a wide pan with the water, turmeric, red chilli powder, pepper and salt. Cover and cook on a medium flame for about 10 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft.
- Add the cooked cowpeas with a little of their water and the coconut paste. Mash some of the pumpkin against the side with the back of the ladle and simmer for 3–4 minutes, until thick and the raw coconut taste is gone.
- Heat the coconut oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the dried red chillies, curry leaves and the coconut for roasting and stir on a medium-low flame for 5–6 minutes, until the coconut is deep golden brown. Pour it over the erissery and stir it in lightly.
- Serve the erissery with the hot rice.
