Kaddu ki Sabji (Easy Pumpkin Recipe)

This Kaddu ki Sabji is a super easy and delicious dish made with pumpkin, whole spices and herbs. The recipe does not include onions and garlic. It is an easy and delicious vegan pumpkin recipe that can be made on regular days and also during Navratri or Ekadashi Fasting. This kaddu or pumpkin sabzi is a favorite at home. It is also known as petha sabzi or kaddu ki sabzi. 

About Kaddu ki Sabji

Kaddu is the Hindi word for Pumpkin and this recipe only has pumpkin, pumpkin and pumpkin in it. So a must-try for all pumpkin lovers.

Of course spices are included but they enhance the taste and flavor of the pumpkin. This sabzi is another delicious recipe from my mother-in-law’s collection.

Actually it is not a dry curry but here are the cooked pumpkin cubes are mashed. Best to have the kaddu ki sabji with poori.

It also goes well with plain paratha or phulka. During the fast, we have it with fried breads or flat breads made with fasting flours like:

1. Water chestnut flour – E.g. singhare ki poori
2. Buckwheat flour – kuttu ki poori or kuttu ka paratha
3. Amaranth flour – rajgira ki poori or rajgira paratha

The recipe of kaddu sabji is simple enough to make with a handful of ingredients. The flavoring comes from the addition of methi seeds (fenugreek seeds) and cumin seeds.

Of course we add our usual Indian spice powders to this recipe like turmeric powder, red chili powder and garam masala powder.

Some sugar (or jaggery) is added for that sweetness which fuses subtly with the sweetness of the pumpkin.

The kaddu ki sabzi is easy and simple. Only cutting and peeling the pumpkin takes some effort and time.

But I found an easy method to peel the pumpkin. But this method only works with smaller pumpkins not bigger ones.

• Place the whole small pumpkin on a large chopping board or on the kitchen counter top.
• Firmly keep your hand on top of the pumpkin.
• With the peeler in your other hand start to peel the pumpkin from sideways. Keep on rotating the pumpkin with the other hand which is on top of it.
• Work with both your hands in this manner till the pumpkin is peeled from all sides.

Once the pumpkin is peeled, you start to chop the pumpkin and you see the pith and the seeds. So what do you do with the seeds? Don’t throw them away.

If you have a garden, then plant the seeds… And if you have a garden or if you don’t have a garden then dry the seeds in the sun.

When they are dried, roast them with some salt and have it in your food. Pumpkin seeds are very nutritious and healthy. You can also roast or toast the pumpkin seeds in the oven.

Note: if making this kaddu sabzi for fasting or vrat then skip the fenugreek seeds, turmeric powder and garam masala. You can refer to this compiled list of Ingredients allowed during Navratri Fast.

How to make Kaddu ki Sabji

Prep Pumpkin (Kaddu)

1. Wash 1 small-sized pumpkin with fresh water. Peel the pumpkin with a peeler. Use yellow pumpkin to make this dish.

2. Chop the pumpkin into small pieces or cubes and set aside.

Fry Spices

3. In a 2 litre stovetop pressure cooker or pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil. Add ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi dana) and 1 teaspoon cumin seeds.

Remember, if you are making this dish for Navratri or Ekadasi fasting then you have to skip adding fenugreek seeds, turmeric powder and garam masala in the recipe. Also use oil that you use for making fasting food.

4. Fry for a minute on a low heat.

5. Now add 1 to 2 dry red chilies. Remove the seeds before you add the dry red chilies. However, the addition of dry red chillies is optional.

They give a good smoky flavor to the dish but you can add green chilies also instead of red chilies.

6. Fry for some 15 seconds till the chilies change color but make sure not to burn them.

Add & Sauté Pumpkin

7. Transfer the chopped pumpkin pieces or cubes to the pressure cooker.

8. Stir and mix well.

9. Next add ½ teaspoon red chili powder and ½ teaspoon turmeric powder. Add 1 teaspoon sugar (or 2 teaspoons crushed jaggery or powdered jaggery).

You can also use coconut sugar or palm sugar instead of sugar or jaggery.

10. Mix the pumpkin with the rest of the spices and sugar (or jaggery).

Make Kaddu Sabzi

11. Add ¾ cup or 1 cup of water and edible rock salt (sendha namak) as required. If you are making the recipe on regular days (non-fasting days) then you can use regular salt also instead of rock salt.

12. Stir and mix well.

13. Cover the pressure cooker with a lid and pressure cook for 7 to 8 minutes. If you do not have a pressure cooker then cover the pan with a lid and cook the pumpkin for some 15 to 20 minutes.

You can also make this recipe in the Instant pot adding water as needed.

14. Pressure cook till the pumpkin becomes soft and mushy. Below is the photo of pressured cooked pumpkin.

Note that open the lid of the pressure cooker only when the pressure inside falls down on its own. This takes some minutes.

15. Now mash the cooked and soft pumpkin with a spoon or a vegetable masher.

16. Now add ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder and 1 teaspoon dry mango powder (amchur powder).

17. Stir the mashed pumpkin well and cook for a minute or two. If the sabzi still looks watery or runny to you, then evaporate the water by cooking it without the lid. This kaddu ki sabzi should not be dry nor watery, just in between.

If in case, the sabji has become too thick or pasty, then add some hot water to thin the consistency a bit.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve Kaddu ki Sabji hot or warm with your preferred roti, paratha or poori made from whole wheat flour, multi-grain flour or gluten-free flours.

If is often served with Poori in North and Central parts of India.

If you are looking for more fasting recipes then do check:

• Sabudana khichdi
• Vrat wale aloo
• Aloo ki sabji
• Samvat rice pulao

Kaddu ki sabji recipe from the blog archives was first published on September 2011.