Kadu is pumpkin, and kadu borani is the sweet member of the borani family: thick wedges of pumpkin fried until they colour at the edges, then baked under sugar and cinnamon until soft enough to cut with a spoon and glossed with their own syrup. It goes to the table warm, on garlic yoghurt, and the sweet pumpkin against the sharp, salty yoghurt is the point of the dish. On its own it is a side or a starter. It is also served with a spoonful of lamb and tomato sauce over the top, which turns it into a main course.
Zone: Silk Road Table
INGREDIENTS
- 1 small sweet pumpkin (about 1.2kg)
- 60 ml vegetable oil
- 150 g caster sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 250 g plain yoghurt
- 1 tsp finely chopped garlic
- pinch of salt
METHOD
- Seed and peel the pumpkin and cut it lengthways into slices about 5cm thick.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the pumpkin, cover and fry for about 10 minutes, turning once.
- Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).
- Move the pumpkin to a small roasting tin, sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon, cover tightly with a lid or foil and bake for about 30 minutes, until soft. A firm pumpkin may need longer.
- Stir the garlic and salt into the yoghurt until smooth.
- Serve the pumpkin warm, with the yoghurt spooned beneath or over it.
NOTES
UK adaptation: A small sweet pumpkin, or crown prince or butternut squash, from any supermarket in autumn; butternut is available all year. Plain or Greek yoghurt. Oven at 180°C (160°C fan). Everything else widely available.
US adaptation: A small sugar or pie pumpkin, as the source suggests, or butternut squash. Plain yogurt. Oven at 350°F. Everything else widely available.
Cook’s note: Keep the dish tightly covered in the oven so the pumpkin steams in the sugar and turns it to syrup. Uncovered, the sugar catches and burns before the pumpkin softens.
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