White pumpkin sambar is a simple but flavorful south Indian stew of lentils cooked with white pumpkin or ash gourd cubes until they are meltingly tender. Serve with steamed rice for a wholesome dinner.
What is white pumpkin sambar?
Desi will eat anything I cook but I can tell he is always a little happier when I make him a Tamil meal of sambar and rice. When we go to the Indian grocery store he will unfailingly point me to the veggies he grew up eating, like bitter melon, banana flowers, and white pumpkin or ash gourd, which he loves in this white pumpkin sambar.
Sambar is a south Indian lentil and vegetable stew flavored with a spice blend called sambar powder. It anchors nearly every homecooked Tamil meal and it's one of the dipping sauces served alongside dosa and idli at south Indian restaurants. That restaurant version features mixed vegetables, but when Tamil home cooks, like my sisters in law back in Chennai, make sambar they more often than not use just one vegetable, like okra, eggplant or pumpkin. As delicious as these versions are, white pumpkin sambar is a standout. The white pumpkin cubes melt into the sambar and infuse it with subtle but headily aromatic flavor, making it incredibly delicious.
If you aren't familiar with white pumpkin, also called ash gourd or wax gourd (poosanikkai in Tamil), this is a giant winter squash - green on the outside, bright white on the inside. It is eaten around India and other parts of Asia and you can almost certainly find large wedges of ash gourd encased in cling wrap in the produce section of your local Asian or Indian grocery store. Discard the green skin, which is not edible, and any seeds, and use only the white portion to make this white pumpkin sambar.
This is one of the dishes I learned to make early on in my journey as a cook, from a little cookbook that springboarded my love affair with Tamil cuisine. If you'd like to read more about it, I wrote a whole post on it on my Substack. And if you love south Indian sambar-style dishes, you might also love these recipes for garlic rasam, bitter gourd pitlai and cabbage kootu.
Recipe card
White Pumpkin Sambar (Poosanikkai Sambar)
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked toor dal (from 1 cup dried lentils cooked with ½ teaspoon turmeric)
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon asafetida
- 2 sprigs curry leaves
- 1 large tomato (diced)
- 4 cups white pumpkin cubes (trim the green skin and cut in ½-inch cubes)
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon tamarind paste
- 1 heaping tbsp sambar powder (taste and add more if needed)
- 1 tablespoon grated jaggery (or sugar)
- Salt to taste
Optional tadka ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 sprig curry leaves
Instructions
- Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a saucepan or pot over medium high heat. Add to it the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and asafetida. As soon as you hear the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the curry leaves and mix.
- Add the pumpkin cubes and a cup of water. Bring to a boil, then cover the pan and cook 8-10 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender.
- Stir in the tomatoes and tamarind. Let the tomatoes cook until pulpy, 2-3 minutes.
- Add dal to the pan and mix in.
- Stir in the sambar powder and jaggery. Return to a boil and let the sambar simmer for another two to three minutes. Add salt to taste and turn off heat.
Optional tadka for finish
- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. When the mustard crackles, pour the oil over the dal and mix well.
Nutrition Information
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How to make white pumpkin sambar
Bloom spices and curry leaves in oil.
- Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a saucepan or pot over medium high heat. Add to it the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and asafetida. As soon as you hear the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the curry leaves and mix. This process, called a "tadka," helps infuse the oil with the herbs and spices.
- Add the white pumpkin cubes and a cup of water. Add a pinch of salt and bring the water to a boil. Cover the pan and let the pumpkin cook, 8-10 minutes, until tender.
Add tomatoes and tamarind
- Stir tomatoes and tamarind into the vegetables in the pan. Let the tomatoes cook until they are soft and pulpy, about 2-3 minutes.
Add lentils and sambar powder
- Add the cooked lentils to the pan and mix them in. Make sure you whisk the lentils thoroughly so they are soft and creamy before you add them to the pan.
- Stir in the sambar powder and bring the white pumpkin sambar to a boil. Let the sambar simmer for a few more minutes, then check salt and turn off heat.
Optional tadka
- For even more flavor, make the optional tadka by heating a tablespoon of oil in a small saucepan or skillet. Add the mustard seeds and when they pop, add curry leaves to the pan. Sauté the curry leaves for just a few seconds, then turn off heat and pour the tadka over the sambar.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, absolutely. Just use cubed orange pumpkin instead of white pumpkin.
Serve the sambar with basmati rice. You can also serve it with idli or any variety of dosa, including classic dosa, adai, jowar dosa, brown rice dosa or quinoa dosa.
Refrigerate leftovers for up to four days. Freeze the sambar for up to two months. Reheat the sambar over the stove top or in the microwave until warmed through. Add water if the sambar is too thick. When you add more water always check and add more salt if needed.
Recipe published on Dec. 17, 2013. Updated and re-published on April 11, 2026.
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Prity says
Finally there is hope for the Tuware (not my favourite ingredient) sitting in my pantry - enjoyed it! Would this be similar to the sambar and idly in mumbai restaurants?
Vaishali says
Yes, very much like the sambar served with idli and dosa in restaurants.
Linda says
This is super delicious! I cut back on the red chilis and used only one, that was hot enough for me. Also I had just a little ginger paste left so I added that as well. I used one cup of coconut milk, not the condensed can instead. I will absolutely make this again!
Vaishali says
Linda, so happy you liked it. Good substitutions.
Wild Sunflower says
You are soooo right! Tamilians (I am guilty too ;)) love THEIR food. Go all over the world, eat all the cuisines out there...but nothing gives me the satisfaction of coming home to just even thayir sadam and oorgai. Forget travelling around, even when I sit down to eat anytime - my south indian food beats every other food hands down 😉 Vaishali, I love all your posts and I was just thinking of getting some soup ideas and thinking to myself "Hope she's still dishing out recipes!" of course, you are!!!
Vaishali says
Hi Sunflower, I thought the Tamilians would relate. 🙂 And being an honorary Tamilian myself, I can too. I cannot think of greater comfort food than vangi bhath or vegan thayir saadam with some ginger oorgai. 🙂 Yum. I need to make some soup soon-- the weather's perfect for it! You can browse through the archived soup recipes here:
marystestkitchen says
Oh wow That looks aaaaaamazing. I have not seen white pumpkin before. I will have to go looking!
Pallavi Kulkarni Desai says
I like the touch of ground Masala to the sambar. Gives it a little something extra. I can just imagine eating this with steaming rice papad on the side , a meal that spreads warmth on cold nights 🙂
Vaishali says
Hi Pallavi, yes, this is amazing with just rice and papad-- exactly the way I ate it. 🙂
divya says
Drooling here. Very inviting.
cookingwithsapana says
White pumpkin tastes great , sambhar must be yummy !
renzo says
You mention ground masala, I Don see it in u our list of recipes