White Pumpkin Coconut Milk Stew or White Pumpkin / Ashgourd kootu is my vegan take on the classic white pumpkin milk stew or vellai poosanikai paal kootu as we say in Tamil. Make this white pumpkin kootu in less than 30 minutes in your Instant Pot. A quick vegan & gluten-free recipe for those busy weekdays!
Ash gourd | White Pumpkin | Winter Melon
Like avarakkai/broad beans, white pumpkin, or the ash gourd or the winter melon (I know, a lot of names) is also a popular vegetable in India. This winter melon finds its place in sambar, curries, kootu, fryums, and even in sweets.
In Telugu, it is boodidi gummidikaya and in Tamil it is vellai poosanikai and in Malayalam it is Kumbalam and Kannada boodu kumbala kai.
Ok, enough of names. Let’s stick to white pumpkin or vellai poosanikai. :-)
White Pumpkin Kootu:
I have already shared a white pumpkin kootu with chana dal on my blog. That’s the traditional kootu recipe with freshly ground coconut. This one is without any masala and with very minimal ingredients. Be it on stove-top or in Instant Pot; you can make this dish quite quickly. PS – You can also try my olan recipe with white pumpkin.
Vegan Take on White Pumpkin Milk Kootu:
Paal is the Tamil word for milk, and white pumpkin milk kootu is typical fare in our household. Instead of regular milk, I went with coconut milk, making vegan, luxurious, and also creamy.
You can very use milk and make this kootu if you are not particular about vegan.
I am sure you will love this kootu recipe, because
✔ It is mild and easy to make. We are using only two green chilies, and coconut milk balances it well.
✔ Rich and creamy.
✔ Vegan and gluten-free
How to make White Pumpkin Coconut Milk Stew in Instant Pot:
The recipe is straightforward. First, you prepare the tempering, then cook the vegetable and then add the coconut milk mixed rice flour and simmer until it thickens. That’s it.
Now let me share the detailed recipe with step-wise pictures. Please don’t miss the notes section for substitutes and other tips.
- Set the Instant Pot on saute mode, and when the display shows “HOT,” add the coconut oil.
- After 30 seconds, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, slit green chilies and curry leaves. Let the mustard seeds sputter.
- Then add the ½ cup of water.
- Next, add the ashgourd and salt.
- Mix thoroughly.
- Now press the cancel button and close the Instant Pot. Make sure the vent is in the sealing position. Pressure cook for 2 minutes at high-pressure mode. When the cooking is complete, wait for 5 minutes and release the pressure quickly.
- I prefer this timing as we like the pumpkin soft and firm like this.
- After the pressure is all released, carefully open the lid. Set the Instant Pot back to saute mode and mix the vegetable.
- In a bowl, mix the coconut milk and rice flour. Make sure there aren’t any lumps.
- Add this coconut milk, rice flour mixture to the white pumpkin.
- Mix and let it simmer for 5 to 7 minutes.
- The stew will thicken slowly. After five to seven minutes, turn off the Instant Pot and serve this warm with rice.
Recipe Notes & Substitutes:
- Other Vegetable Substitutes: Instead of white pumpkin, you can use yellow cucumber, bottle gourd, butternut squash, or red pumpkin. For a soft yet firm vegetable, you can follow the same Instant Pot cooking time, or if you prefer a very soft veggie texture, you can increase timing by one or two. But I would recommend starting with two minutes and depending upon the doneness, increase the cooking time.
- Cooking Time: I prefer soft, yet firm vegetables for my kootu. So my cooking time is less. But if you prefer the soft texture, either release the pressure naturally or cook for three minutes and release the pressure after 5 minutes.
- Instead of rice flour, you can use corn starch to thicken the stew. Traditional recipes call for rice flour, but you can opt corn starch as well.
- If you prefer thin stew, either add ½ more cup additional water or reduce the flour measure by ½ tsp.
- Lite coconut milk or full-fat coconut milk? When I first tried this recipe, I went with lite coconut milk. It was not creamy like this one, and you can see my first version on my Instagram feed as well. As I wanted it creamier, I went with full fat this time. But you can choose either one. I went with store-bought coconut milk.
- As always, adjust the spices according to your preference.
- Pressure Cooker Version: If you are making this in the pressure cooker, then cook the white pumpkin for only two whistles. Right after tempering, add ½ cup of water and the vegetables. Pressure cook for two whistles and release the pressure naturally. Then add the coconut milk mixture and simmer.
- Curry leaves enhance the flavor of the recipe. But if you can source it, ignore or add some cilantro. But the taste will be different for sure. For this coconut milk stew, I either add curry leaves or cilantro.
Other South Indian Kootu Recipes:
If you like this white pumpkin kootu, don’t forget to check my,
Coconut Milk Recipes:
And if you like coconut milk like me, then try out these Indian recipes with coconut milk.
PS: Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more gardening and recipe updates. If you try this white pumpkin coconut milk stew recipe, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it asap.
I am sending this post to Blogging Marathon 105 under the theme “Easy Sides for Rice and Roti.” Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#105
📖 Recipe
White Pumpkin Coconut Milk Stew | White Pumpkin Kootu
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- ½ tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 green chilies slit into half
- 10 curry leaves
- ½ cup water
- 3 cups ash gourd chopped into cubes
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup coconut milk
- 1 tsp rice flour
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot on saute mode, and when the display shows "HOT," add the coconut oil.
- After 30 seconds, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, slit green chilies and curry leaves. Let the mustard seeds sputter.
- Then add the ½ cup of water. Next, add the ashgourd and salt. Mix thoroughly.
- Now press the cancel button and close the Instant Pot. Make sure the vent is in the sealing position. Pressure cook for 2 minutes at high-pressure mode. When the cooking is complete, wait for 5 minutes and release the pressure quickly.
- After the pressure is all released, carefully open the lid. Set the Instant Pot back to saute mode and mix the vegetable.
- In a bowl, mix the coconut milk and rice flour. Make sure there aren't any lumps.
- Add this coconut milk, rice flour mixture to the white pumpkin.
- Mix and let it simmer for 5 to 7 minutes.
- The stew will thicken slowly. After five to seven minutes, turn off the Instant Pot and serve this warm with rice.
Notes
- Other Vegetable Substitutes: Instead of white pumpkin, you can use yellow cucumber, bottle gourd, butternut squash, or red pumpkin. For a soft yet firm vegetable, you can follow the same Instant Pot cooking time, or if you prefer a very soft veggie texture, you can increase timing by one or two. But I would recommend starting with two minutes and depending upon the doneness, increase the cooking time.
- Cooking Time: I prefer soft, yet firm vegetables for my kootu. So my cooking time is less. But if you prefer the soft texture, either release the pressure naturally or cook for three minutes and release the pressure after 5 minutes.
- Instead of rice flour, you can use corn starch to thicken the stew. Traditional recipes call for rice flour, but you can opt corn starch as well.
- If you prefer thin stew, either add ½ more cup additional water or reduce the flour measure by ½ tsp.
- Lite coconut milk or full-fat coconut milk? When I first tried this recipe, I went with lite coconut milk. It was not creamy like this one, and you can see my first version on my Instagram feed as well. As I wanted it creamier, I went with full fat this time. But you can choose either one. I went with store-bought coconut milk.
- As always, adjust the spices according to your preference.
- Pressure Cooker Version: If you are making this in the pressure cooker, then cook the white pumpkin for only two whistles. Right after tempering, add ½ cup of water and the vegetables. Pressure cook for two whistles and release the pressure naturally. Then add the coconut milk mixture and simmer.
- Curry leaves enhance the flavor of the recipe. But if you can source it, ignore or add some cilantro. But the taste will be different for sure. For this coconut milk stew, I either add curry leaves or cilantro.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Made it today. Delicious, easy and idiot proof. My kinda recipe🙂. A clarification you could add, is two whistles on high flame, for the pressure cooker method. Thank you!
Thanks so much for sharing the pressure cooker whistle count. Really appreciate it. Glad you all liked it.
I always use pressure cooker to cook Ash gourd. Helps save time. Didn’t have rice flour used a tsp of tapioca flour instead came out great.
Oh great pa. Thanks for sharing that alternative. Glad it worked well.
i have white pumpkins with orange flesh…. is that the white pumpkin you are talking about… or is it a different one?
You can use that too but the white pumpkin usually has green skin and white flesh. Any squash variety should work.
It turned out good.. very similar to stew.
Thank you :-)
This was good! I used a white pumpkin from my garden and bay instead of curry leaves and it was delicious, thank you!
Thanks a lot for the feedback. Glad it worked well.
I love olan, that’s made with ash gourd and beans with coconut milk. I am sure I will like this version too, given how close it is to olan.
Yeah, it’s more like Olan. Just the cowpeas is missing.
Love the simple flavors here. I am sure the coconut milk adds the oomph factor here.
A quick question – This is more like sabji right? I thought kootu needs dal as well, am i wrong?
We call gravy curry as kootu. Most of the kootu calls for dal but there are few exceptions this. The kootu with milk is quite popular and also for white pumpkin, chana dal goes well than moong dal.
This is surely a wonderful way to use coconut milk Srividhya, good one!
Thanks.
I make a similar dish with Bottle gourd too but use regular milk. Love your version with coconut milk, it adds more flavour to the dish. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Amara. :-)
My mom makes similar recipe with bottle gourd and regular milk. I love this coconut milk version since my husband is allergic to dairy. Using the instant pot is such a great idea too.
Thanks, Pavani. I want to keep it vegan, hence went this way. :-)