While we get pumpkins all year round, somehow, in November, there seems to be much more of this rich, thick-flesh, orange-coloured vegetable. It’s October month-end and that means Halloween in North America and the carving of pumpkins. November is Thanksgiving and it’s all about the pumpkin pie, and here in Barbados, Conkies are everywhere as they are synonymous with Barbados’ independence.
Growing up, I was never a fan of pumpkin, but it was one of my late Mother’s favourite vegetables. Mommy always cooked it to be eaten with roti, while I preferred to eat rice. I found fried pumpkin with rice, bland and boring. The only time I would eat fried pumpkin was when it was served with other curried vegetables on the occasions when there would be 7-curry such as at a wedding, religious festival or pooja (jhandi). When I moved to Barbados in the late 1990s, the variety of vegetables available was not as wide and varied as now, but one of the things readily available was pumpkin. Missing home and my family, I’d pick up pumpkin to cook.
The first time I cooked it, I had it with rice and immediately remembered not liking it. Nostalgia got me through the meal. As with all my telephone conversations with Mommy back then, this one also started with her asking if I was taking care of myself and eating properly and enquiring what I had cooked. I told her about the fried pumpkin. She laughed heartily when I told her about my dislike for fried pumpkin. She told me that I should try eating it with paratha roti. I said I’d think about it (really intending not to).
Don’t get me wrong, I eat pumpkin but in specific ways – in Conkies, pureed in soup, cooked as Pumpkin Cook-up, as fritters, in pancakes, breads, rolls, as a punch and over the past few years in dhal. My pumpkin dhal is one of my favourite dishes. I cook it with fresh coconut milk, ginger, and onions. I have also since realised that while I do not like fried pumpkin with plain rice, I would eat it if the pumpkin is cooked in with the rice, such as one would if making Pumpkin Cook-up Rice.
It would be a couple of years later, after that conversation with my mother, that I would give the pumpkin and roti a try. And if I am being honest, I was having guests over. I planned to serve paratha roti with a number of vegetable dishes as well as meat and seafood curries. That late afternoon as we all sat down to eat, I tore a piece of the roti and dipped it into the pumpkin and put it in my mouth. I did not know what to expect but what I didn’t expect was for my eyes to open wide in surprise, smile and nod in understanding, and end up eating all of the pumpkin on my plate without touching any of the other vegetables or meats. It. Was. A. Revelation. I came to an understanding that cannot be explained, it has to be experienced. All my life, I kept hearing, not only my mother, but many others swoon at the delight of eating pumpkin with roti.
Not really analysing or dissecting it, I began to wonder what it was about the combination that made it a favourite of so many and the preferred way of eating fried pumpkin. People can get weary and frankly irritated when you ask them certain things about food. And it is understandable because you are asking them to think of things in a way that might take away the joy and pleasure of having them. Even though it’s unintentional, you can unknowingly make them feel as if they are being judged for what they are eating (believe me, I know from first-hand experience). Many of the people I asked about their love of pumpkin with roti, simply said, ‘I just like it’. ‘I grew up eating it’. ‘It was always how it was served at home, fried pumpkin with roti’.
Gently pressed (my Mom included), people spoke of adding salt fish to the pumpkin to season it and add flavour, others spoke of adding freshly ground cumin (jeera) or a little bit of curry powder to compliment the sweetness of the pumpkin. Not to be left out is pumpkin cooked with fresh white-belly shrimp; little nuggets that add texture to the dish. There was talk about the deft sprinkling of a little sugar at the right time to bring out the inherent sweetness of the pumpkin that balanced it with the spices and savouriness. Experienced cooks spoke authoritatively about cooking the pumpkin so as to let all the liquid evaporate, leaving things thick and creamy. From my own experience and watching the women in my family cook, I’d see them using the back of the pot spoon to mash the pumpkin after it had been cooking for a certain amount to time to aid in the process of releasing the moisture (they would scoff and complain about the quality of the pumpkin if it was found to release a lot of liquid, or was grainy/stringy when mashed, ascribing blame to the farmer/grower for the use of too much fertilisers).
In questioning myself about my new-found liking and appreciation for pumpkin with roti, I realised that like others, it was not something that I could put into words. There is something about a still-warm paratha roti, with its layers of softness dragged through a mound of sweet, lightly flavoured, thick, creamy pumpkin, that forms a union that when eaten, you want to close your eyes and sway from side to side. It’s a happy moment. There is no need to think, just eat and enjoy. There is something about fried pumpkin…
Cynthia
cynthia@tasteslikehome.org
