Gummadikaya Pulusu (Pumpkin Pulusu)

Gummadikaya Pulusu is a delicious spicy, tangy & slightly sweet stew made with pumpkin. For the uninitiated, Gummadikaya is the Telugu name for pumpkin and pulusu is a Telugu word for a simple spicy, sweet & sour stew. Gummadikaya pulusu is a traditional side dish from Andhra cuisine. It is usually eaten with rice, ghee & fryums (vadiyalu).

A lot of people also love mixing it with hot plain rice, mudda pappu (plain toor dal) and ghee. But it also goes well with roti, chapati, ragi roti or jowar roti. Pulusu can be made with many different kinds of vegetables like potatoes, drumsticks, pumpkin, eggplants, ladyfinger, yam, bottle gourd and ridge gourd. The process to cook remains the same for most vegetables.

I have also shared a few other pulusu recipes here on the blog
Bendakaya pulusu
Egg pulusu
Sorakaya pulusu

Pulusu is a basic and simple dish made with pantry staples like onions, green chilies, curry leaves, tamarind, jaggery, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and red chili powder. Ingredients like garam masala, garlic and ginger are not used. This is a dish meant to be very simple, comforting and a good break from all those strong spices like garam masala.

But over the years I have started to use coriander powder, cumin powder and methi powder but traditionally they were not used. Instead whole methi seeds were added along with mustard seeds and cumin seeds to the tempering. Since my family don’t like to bite into the methi seeds, I started to use methi powder.

I know a lot of people use rice flour to thicken but my Mom never used so I have never tried with it. Sometimes I mash a few pieces of pumpkin to thicken the pulusu slightly. But I still remember the traditional pulusu my Mom made would be runny and perfect to mix with rice and mudda pappu. I have used only golden pumpkin here. But you can also use drumsticks or eggplants or hard boiled eggs if you like the combination.

At home we love pumpkin and often I struggle to find ideas to cook with it. Sometimes it goes into the tiffin sambar and other times I stir fry and sprinkle some spices for a quick side dish. Here are a few more pumpkin recipes for you to check out.

Pumpkin Curry
Butternut Squash Curry
Pumpkin Halwa
Kaddu ki Sabzi

Photo Guide

How to make Gummadikaya Pulusu (Stepwise Photos)

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pot. Add ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds, ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and a pinch of methi/fenugreek seeds. When they begin to splutter, add 1 sprig curry leaves and 1 slit green chili .

2. Add ¾ to 1 cup chopped onions and sprinkle ¼ teaspoon salt. Saute until they turn pink.

3. Add 2 to 2½ cups cubed pumpkin and fry for 2 mins. Then sprinkle ¾ to 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder and 1½ to 2 teaspoons coriander powder. Saute for another 2 mins.

4. Strain the tamarind water (2 tbsps tamarind soaked in half cup warm water) and 2 tablespoons jaggery.

5. Pour more water just enough to cover the pieces.

6. Cover and cook until the pumpkin is fork tender. Taste test and add more salt, tamarind and jaggery if needed. It should ideally taste sweet, tangy and hot. Pulusu is usually runny and not thick. Add 2 tbsps coriander leaves with stalks included.

While the pulusu cooks, you can make mudda pappu along with rice. Rinse half toor dal well at least thrice and pour 1 cup water. Cover the bowl. Place this in your cooker over the rice bowl. Pressure cook in the instant pot for 10 minutes or in a stovetop cooker for 3 whistles. When the pressure drops, mash it well. Add salt to taste. It should be thick and smooth.

Serve gummadikaya pulusu with rice-mudda pappu and ghee or chapati.

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