This is a simple and quick to prepare recipe of my mother’s, which is a huge hit with visitors. My mother generally likes experimenting. She can also replicate something she has once tasted. As this dish is something that falls under the two, I have labelled it under ‘Colombo’ (the city where different Sri Lankan cuisines meet) – which is also the city my mother has lived nearly three decades so far and where she feels most at home.
Mashed Pumpkin Salad
Time taken – 20 minutes
Serves – 4
Ingredients
- Pumpkin – 250g
- Coconut milk – 2 or 3 tbsp
- Green chillies – 2
- Onion – 1 medium sized, chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Lime juice
Method
- Chop the pumpkin into chunks, does not need to be small, and leaving the skin on. Remove seeds and clean the chunks.
- Boil the pumpkin until it is tender and cooked, for around 15 minutes. Remove skin and mash the pumpkin.
- Add the coconut milk, green chillies, onion to the mashed pumpkin and mix well.
- Season with salt and pepper, according to your taste, as well as some lime juice.
Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.
A Taste of Sri Lankan cuisine 
This pumpkin dish is a favourite of mine. I tend to use baked pumpkin or butternut squash (cut into large chunks and baked with skin on with a drizzle of sunflower or olive oil with the skin later removed and discarded once cooled down) as baking makes it more sweeter and the flavour more concentrated. SH
I was making butternut squash gnocchi for dinner last night. I roasted the squash slices with olive oil drizzled over them and chopped garlic and herbs sprinkled over them, as per the recipe instructions. When the roasting was done, I was almost tempted to serve the roasted slices as they were as they smelt wonderful. I remembered that you mentioned it was your favourite way of eating them, Akka, and can understand why now. 🙂