I got a cute whole white pumpkin from my MIL couple of days back.After letting it sit on counter for good 10 days,suddenly I was scared it may get rotten or something and asked my husband to cut open it.It was really fresh,very fleshy and tender too.Along with usual sambar,kootu I wanted to try my hands at few new recipes with this.I made a raita few days back and we liked it.Now for a long time I had been wanting to making a shorba.Shorba is thick hearty soup made in India,a very famous one being dal shorba.Pumpkin shorba is also equally famous and I have read about it many times and I have also seen in restaurants menus.So with fresh good pumpkin at home I wanted to try this.I have a very simple recipe for this in my recipe collection,and I decided to try that.I should admit I was skeptical to try this as there are onions in this recipe.Pumpkin with onions is something I have never heard of and I was not sure of the results.But curiosity too over me and also the excitement of posting a new recipe here made me proceed :)Once I tasted the finished shorba I was wondering why I didn't try this before.It was so flavorful and no distinct taste of onion was felt.Flavors were so well mingled and mild.I urge you all to try this if you haven't before.Mostly pumpkin shorba is yellow in color,but here I have used white pumpkin with pale green skin.So mine turned out to be light in color.We enjoyed this shorba for dinner yesterday.Though the weather here is not something suitable for soups,this shorba is going to be in rotating menu here onwards:)Pumpkin shorba recipe
Star ingredients:Pumpkin
Time:20 minutes
Serves:3
Ingredients:
1 cup cubed pumpkin pieces
1 onion coarsely chopped
10-12 crushed peppercorns
3-4 cloves
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper powder to taste
Oil
Method:
1.Heat a kadai/cooker and add 2 teaspoons oil.Fry the onions till translucent.Add the pumpkin pieces an saute for 5 minutes.Add 1 1/2 cups of water and cook till pumpkin is well cooked and tender.Add salt to taste and mix well
2.Now puree the cooked onion and pumpkin along with water.You can puree it with some chunks or until smooth.
3.Heat a small kadai and add 1 teaspoon oil.Once hot add cloves,bay leaf,cinnamon powder and crushed pepper corn.Add this to the prepared shorba and simmer it for 5 minutes.
4.Adjust salt and pepper and serve hot.
Notes:
1.Do not boil the shorba after adding the tempering.Just simmer it.
2.You can pass the pureed pumpkin n onions through a sieve if needed
3.You can add white peppercorns for more mild flavor.
