Erisseryഏറിശേരി
⏱ Prep 15m🍳 Cook 35m🍽 Serves 4🌿 Vegan
Video: Cookd (YouTube)
Among the twelve or more dishes served on a banana leaf at the Onam Sadhya, erissery is among the most comforting — pumpkin and black-eyed peas cooked until soft, folded into a ground coconut paste, and crowned with a crispy toasted-coconut temper in pure coconut oil. Sweet, earthy, and gently spiced, it is what home tastes like across Kerala.
📍 Make it in Plano
This recipe is the same everywhere — but where you buy the ingredients and eat the dish is local to you.
Finding Desi spots near Plano…
Ingredients
- ▪pumpkin (mathanga / yellow squash), peeled and cubed 2 cm400 g
- ▪black-eyed peas (vanpayar) — soaked overnight½ cup
- ▪turmeric powder½ tsp
- ▪red chilli powder½ tsp
- ▪saltto taste
- For the coconut paste
- ▪fresh or frozen grated coconut — thenga¾ cup
- ▪cumin seeds — jeerakam½ tsp
- ▪dried red chillies2
- For the tempering
- ▪coconut oil — velichenna2 tbsp
- ▪mustard seeds — kaduku½ tsp
- ▪dried red chillies2
- ▪curry leaves10
- ▪shallots / pearl onions, sliced — ulli3
- ▪grated coconut for toasting3 tbsp
🌍 Cooking abroad? Substitutions
- Fresh grated coconut — frozen grated coconut (Indian/Asian store freezer section) is the best substitute and nearly identical in flavour; desiccated coconut rehydrated in warm water (10 min) works but is less rich.
- Black-eyed peas (vanpayar) — canned black-eyed peas (drained and rinsed) skip the soaking entirely; red cow peas or brown lentils are reasonable substitutes if vanpayar is unavailable.
- Coconut oil — this is structural to Kerala cooking; find it at any Indian grocer, health-food store, or mainstream supermarket worldwide. Do not substitute for the tempering; the aroma is irreplaceable.
Method
- 1Pressure-cook soaked black-eyed peas with a pinch of turmeric and enough water to cover, 2–3 whistles until just soft; drain and set aside.
- 2In a pot, cook pumpkin cubes with ½ cup water, turmeric, red chilli powder, and salt on medium heat until very soft, about 15 min.
- 3Mash the pumpkin coarsely with a spoon — leave some chunks for texture.
- 4Grind fresh coconut, cumin seeds, and dried red chillies to a coarse paste, adding 2 tbsp water if needed.
- 5Stir the coconut paste and cooked black-eyed peas into the pumpkin; cook together 5 min on low heat until the mixture thickens. Adjust salt.
- 6For tempering: heat coconut oil in a small pan; add mustard seeds and let them pop. Add dried red chillies, curry leaves, and sliced shallots; fry until shallots turn golden, about 3 min.
- 7Add the 3 tbsp grated coconut to the tempering pan; toast on low heat, stirring constantly, until deep golden-brown and fragrant, 4–5 min — this toasted layer is the signature finish.
- 8Pour the entire tempering over the erissery; stir gently and serve warm with steamed rice.
A Desi.Net original recipe · part of our Indian Cuisine library. Confirm details and adjust to taste.