Mathanga Erissery (Yellow Pumpkin/Manja poosinikka Erissery)

Now there is no English word for Erissery since its as unique as Kerala and Kerala cuisine itself! A vegetarian feast in Kerala is incomplete without  erissery!! 
Such is the importance of this dish.

The main ingredients of this dish are Yellow Pumpkin (Mathanga) and Red Cowpeas (Van payar)...

Yellow Pumpkin contains a high amount of fibre which helps you digest your food efficiently and  helps your body absorb the nutrients from your food. It also contains iron, Vitamin A and Vitamin E apart from various other minerals.

Overnight soaked cowpeas

Red Cowpeas is a great source of antioxidants like vitamin A, cowpeas play a vital role in the prevention of a wide range of diseases. The high protein content in cowpeas helps maintain healthy skin by accelerating the process of skin repair. The antioxidant properties of these legumes are due to the presence of vitamin A and vitamin C, which protects the skin cells from damage caused due to free radicals.

Cowpeas are also low in the glycemic index (GI) as compared to other commonly consumed legumes and lentils. Foods that are low in GI are good for people suffering from diabetes as these foods help in maintaining blood sugar levels within normal range. 

Erissery Ingredients:

Pumpkin-250gms

Red Cowpeas-100gms

Chilly powder-1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder-1/4spoon

Green chillies-2

Coconut-1/4 grated

Curry leaves - 10 leaves

Salt to taste

Soak the cowpeas in water over night. The size of the cowpeas would increase to around 1.5 times. Overnight soaked cowpeas would look like the figure above.

Wash the cowpeas thoroughly. Cook the cow peas in the pressure cooker. For every one class of cow peas put minimum of 2 glasses of water. Add salt as required.

Once cooked, keep aside.

Chop the pumpkins into small cubes (approximately 2 cm of each side) separately and cook in a separate vessel. Always cook the pumpkin in low flame because it cooks soon. While cooking, put one teaspoon of turmeric powder, one teaspoon of chilly powder, two green chillies, salt and cook. Make sure to add minimum amount of water, just enough to cook the pumpkin. Erissery is a dry dish, hence, water must be added carefully in such a manner that you dont have to drain excess water after the pumpkin is cooked. 

Roasted coconut

Grated Coconut

Put the grated coconut into a frying pan and roast till it turns brownish in color. 

Keep aside.

Cooked Pumpkin

Once the pumpkin is cooked, mix the cooked cowpeas and pumpkin. Add the roasted coconut into the mixture and mix thoroughly. 

At the end, we need to do the tempering. 

Tempering:

Take a small frying pan and pour one table spoon of oil. Once the oil is hot, put one teaspoon mustard into it and wait for mustard to splutter.  Put 2-3 broken dry red chillies and 10 curry leaves into the pan. Mix well so that these get fried. 

Put this mix into the curry and mix thoroughly. Erissery is Ready to be served!!

This is served as a side dish along with other main course dishes for lunch/dinner. 

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