Pumpkin pie

In the 80s when we were working in Manipal, one American friend made pumpkin pie and it was very delicious. I took the recipe and baked it a couple of times. Once I started baking apple pie, which takes much less time and effort (and it became sort of my signature dish), pumpkin pie was long forgotten. Recently we got some home grown pumpkins. They were of such great quality that I had to bake a pumpkin pie.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups cooked, mashed/grated pumpkin

1 cup sugar

½ cup milk

2 tbsps milk cream

1 egg

¾ tsp allspice powder

1/3  tsp dried ginger powder

For the pie shell:

170 gms refined flour

A pinch of salt

2 tsps sugar

½ cup solidified ghee

¼ cup water

Instructions:

-          Cut pumpkin into large pieces, apply oil on the surface, keep in a container and put it inside the pressure cooker with 2 cups of water. Pressure cook for 8 minutes, cool and open.

-          Remove the skin and mash the pumpkin and put it in a thick bottomed pan. Add sugar, milk and milk cream, mix well and cook on low fire till it becomes thick.

-         Remove from fire, let it cool, beat the egg and add it, along with the dried ginger powder and allspice powder.

-          For the pie shell, take the flour; add sugar, salt and the ghee. Mix the ghee into the flour with fork till it resembles bread crumbs.

-         Add water slowly and knead into smooth dough. 

S  Spread it into round, gently put it inside a flat baking dish. Prick the whole surface with fork.

-          Fill the pie shell with the pumpkin puree and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for about 35 minutes.

-          Cut into pieces and serve, ice cream is a good combination with this. Usually the pie tastes better on the next day.

Bengal gram leaves sabzi

When I entered the farm filled with Bengal gram plants, that green color was so soothing and healing to the eyes. 

I could sense the leaves saying to me, ‘We are very good for your stomach and body.’  The taste and flavour could almost be felt in my brain. And we got to eat its sabzi, which was so delicious, with a distinct flavour. Immediately I took the recipe, brought the leaves home and cooked it, much to the delight of my husband.

Ingredients:

5 cups of cleaned, washed and chopped Bengal gram leaves(without the thick stems)

¾ cup roasted,skinned,crushed peanuts

2 green chillies

1 onion cut fine

4 flakes of garlic, cut fine

Salt to taste

1 tbsp oil

Instruction:

-          Take all the ingredients except the oil in a thick bottomed pan and put on medium heat.

-          Reduce the flame and cover the pan, stirring in between to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom.

-          When it is cooked, which takes about 6 minutes, add the oil, mix well and remove from fire.

-          It goes well with chapatis and steamed rice.