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Cheenikai kalasu is a simple but delicious coconut curry prepared by the South Canara Havyaka community. It is quick, it is simple, requires only a handful of ingredients, 10 to be exact and is unlike any other ‘coconut curry’ you have tasted.

Cheenikai – Sihi kumbalakai, pumpkin

Kalasu is also called as jeerige bendi in the Havyaka community. Pumpkin jeerige bendi has sweet notes from pumpkin, fresh coconut and jaggery. You can kick up the heat by using green chillies or choose to keep it mild. Tastes great both ways!

Jeerige-cumin seeds

Bendi-a thick curry

Work smart, not hard must have been the motto of the genius who created kalasu! He/she created this beautiful curry using ONE UN-roasted spice! That’s right, you don’t even need to roast the cumin seeds! This pumpkin chickpea curry busts all the myths that Indian cooking is hard! 🙂 Have chickpeas soaked and cooked/use canned. The rest is done and dusted in under 30 min!

Call it a lazy recipe or a smart recipe, cheenikai kalasu is one tasty recipe, I guarantee you that! You need to try it to believe it 🙂

If you analyze Havyaka recipes, you will likely see a pattern, majority of them are

• Simple
• Quick!
• Lesser steps during cooking, which is why they are simple & quick.
• Lesser use of spices. Instead of many spices fighting with each other, fewer spices shine.

I have a few simple Havyaka recipes on the blog, like this Ivy Gourd curry , coconut + yogurt curry and this side dish made using ripe mangoes.

Ingredients needed to make cheenikai kalasu | Pumpkin chickpea curry

Pumpkin

Traditionally tender/young pumpkins are used to make kalasu. Here in the USA, I buy regular mature pumpkin (with orange skin) and it still works great. Butternut squash works as a great substitute for pumpkin in this recipe.

Chickpeas/chana

I use dry chickpeas/garbanzo beans/chana/kabuli kadle. I soak them in water and cook them separately before starting to cook vegetables for the curry. Canned chickpeas can be used too.

Fresh/Frozen coconut

Havyaka recipes rely on fresh coconut as a thickener and also for flavour. Coconuts are super tasty 🙂 If living outside of India and fresh coconuts are hard to find, check if your local Asian/Indian grocers carry grated frozen coconut. They are the next best thing to fresh coconut. I would not recommend using dry dessicated coconut in this recipe.

Other ingredients

• Cumin seeds, the only spice used.
• Jaggery, an unrefined Indian sugar
• Thai/Indian green chillies for flavour
• Curry leaves, optional.

How is Cheenikai kalasu eaten?

This pumpkin chickpea curry is traditionally eaten with rice. It can also be eaten with neeru dose and goes well with unde/pundi (rice dumplings)

Cheenikai Kalasu | Pumpkin chickpea curry recipe & video

Cheenikai Kalasu | Pumpkin & chickpeas in coconut gravy

Shwetha

Sweet pumpkins and cooked chickpeas in a mildly spiced, creamy coconut gravy spiced with cumin seeds.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Chickpea soaking & cooking time 5 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Havyaka, Indian

Servings 4

Equipment

• pressure cooker
• Mixer-grinder/blender

Ingredients

  

• ½ cup dry chickpeas/chana or use 1 can of chickpeas
• 3 cups pumpkin chopped into 1-2 inch pieces
• 1 cup fresh/frozen grated coconut at room temperature
• 1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
• 1 tsp jaggery, unrefined Indian sugar adjust to suit your taste
• 2 Indian/Thai green chillies adjust to suit your taste
• 1 sprig curry leaves , divided optional but recommended
• 3½ cups water, divided
• salt to taste

For hot oil seasoning/tadka/oggarane

• 2 tsp oil preferably coconut oil
• ½ tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 dry red chilli broken

Instructions

 

Prepare chickpeas

• Wash chickpeas. Soak them in water for at least 5 hours or overnight.
• Cook soaked chickpeas with half tsp of salt until tender.

  Note: I pressure cook chickpeas with 1 cup of water in an Instant pot for 15 minutes in high pressure, Normal pressure release.

Prepare curry

• Defrost coconut if using frozen. Coconut needs to be at room temperature or the fat separates upon blending.

  Note: Warm water can be used to blend if coconut is still cool to touch.
• Chop pumpkin into bite sized pieces.
• Add pumpkin into a pot, add 1 cup water, salt, turmeric, jaggery and cook until the vegetables are fork tender.

  Note: Pumpkins can get mushy very quickly once they are cooked. Do keep an eye on them.
  
• Add the cooked chickpeas in, along with its stock/cooking liquid. Or add in a can of chickpeas.
• Meanwhile, in a blender, add coconut, fresh green chillies, 4-5 curry leaves, cumin seeds, 1/2 cup water and blend into a very smooth paste.
• Add the blended coconut paste into the pot with cooked pumpkin and chickpeas.
• Adjust water and salt. ½-1 cup water can be added at this stage, depending on how thick you like your curry.
• On medium heat, bring the curry to a gentle boil. Stir occasionally.
• Simmer for two minutes and turn off the heat.
  

Hot oil seasoning/tadka/oggarane

• Heat coconut oil in a small heavy bottomed pan on medium-high heat.
• Add in the mustard seeds and broken dry red chillies.
  
• When mustard splutters, add curry leaves.
• Pour the hot oil, along with the spices over the curry.
• Cover. Mix and serve with rice.

Video

Notes

• Use fresh/frozen coconut, not dry dessicated.
• Coconut has to be at room temperature when blending, if not, the fat separates on blending.
• You can add one of the green chillies while cooking the vegetables.
• If you want to reduce the quantity of coconut, add a teaspoon of rice when blending the coconut, it will help thicken the curry.
• I recommend not skipping the hot oil seasoning/tadka as it adds a ton of flavour.
• In warmer temperatures, refrigerate this pumpkin chickpea curry within 6-7 hours of preparation. Curries with fresh coconut can otherwise go bad.
• The curry does reheat well. It can be prepared and stored in the refrigerator. Remove only the required portion and reheat. 

Keyword coconut, coconut curry