About:

It’s now time for some festival – Ugadi, a new year day for the Deccan region of India.

On this occasion tried this festival simple dish. This dessert requires fresh Squash, either butternut squash or pumpkin are ideal for this. It is simply squash and coconut, the coconut adds a richer taste and the two flavors work extremely well together.

So these are simple, delicious looking pumpkin bites in a coconut dates syrup and small amount of jaggery to make it taste authentic. The bites or squash chunks were nicely coated with coconut and I was mesmerized by their flavor.

Yields-3-4 servings
Preparation time-10 minutes
Cooking time-25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

• Squash/pumpkin-300 gms
• Coconut milk-200 ml (1 tin)
• Dates paste-1/4 cup
• Powdered Jaggery-1/4 cup (can substitute with regular white sugar)
• Fresh grated coconut-2-3 tbsp

Serving:

• Flaked almonds/nuts

Procedure:

• Peel the skin off the squash and cut into bite sized pieces/chunks.
• Boil 200ml of water in a saucepan, add Squash pieces and cook for 10-12 minutes/until al dente.
• While squash is cooking- combine dates paste, fresh coconut, Jaggery in a blender/mixer, whizz until combined and set aside until required.

• Once the squash is cooked add ground coconut-dates- jaggery mixture, coconut milk stir well and let it cook on a medium low flame for 8-10 more minutes or until the sauce thickens and coats well to the squash pieces.
• Turn off the flame and garnish with some flaked almonds/nuts
• Serve warm or cold.

Note:

• I used butternut Squash here – it can be replaced with pumpkin or any squash.
• Jaggery can be replaced with brown sugar/Refined sugar/any sweetner of choice.
• I added jaggery as it adds a authentic flavour to the dish- it can be replaced completely with dates paste/molasses.
• Sweetness can be personalised as per the taste