Indian food layers spices masterfully. This pumpkin dish shows how.

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Make a Romy Gill recipe, in my experience, and you end up marveling at two things: the straightforward ease and the surprisingly complex flavors. The key to both is the layering of spices and spice mixes, often in different forms (whole and ground) and at different points in a recipe.

The last time I wrote about her, the subject was her second book, “On the Himalayan Trail,” and the dish that captivated me was paneer in yellow gravy, where nine spices mingle to create what she called “a bowl of golden yellow deliciousness,” an assessment that I seconded.

This time, I talked to her about her third book, “Romy Gill’s India,” about the cuisines of the two regions that shaped her upbringing – Bengal, where she’s from; and Punjab, where her parents are from – with stops along the 24-hour train ride between them. Gill is more than a chef, restaurateur and recipe developer; she’s a lyrical storyteller, wrapping memories around her dishes like a winter shawl.

The recipe that captivated me this time is Stir-Fried Spiced Pumpkin, a Bengali dish that, much like the paneer a few years back, uses spices in the nuanced, sophisticated way Indian cuisine is famous for. The spices number as many as a dozen or even more, because two of them are mixes: panch phoron and garam masala, used on opposite ends of the recipe.

The former – a blend of whole spices including nigella, cumin, fennel and fenugreek – gets sizzled in oil, along with bay leaf and fresh ginger, as you begin cooking, before you’ve added the cubes of pumpkin. The latter – an incredibly variable ground mix that often includes cinnamon, coriander, cumin and cardamom – gets sprinkled on the pumpkin once it’s tender, right before serving. In between, ground cumin, chiles, turmeric and coriander get cooked along with the pumpkin as it softens.

Notice the duplication? Cumin shows up in each and every round. But because it’s treated differently each time – once whole and bloomed in oil, once ground and stir-fried, and once ground and not cooked at all – it weaves its way through the other flavors, including a kick from chillies, in different intensities and textures.

I can’t think of an American recipe that plays with spices and their forms in quite the same way, can you? The result here – well, let’s just say that my mouth is watering again just remembering how it tasted the first (and second, and third) time I made it. Pumpkin (I used kabocha squash because it’s one of my favorites) never tasted this good. “It’s all those spices with their different kinds of sweetness, pungency, the heat, that warmth, that bitterness,” Gill says in a Zoom conversation from her home southwest of London. “It’s so wonderful.”

While Gill’s book focuses on two regions of India, she has always kept the bigger picture in mind. India’s vastness could never be fully captured in a single volume, she says, so she’s making her way around the nation, exploring as she goes and trying to illuminate individual regions along the way. “You have to keep on learning and evolving all the time and never say, ‘I know everything,’” she tells me. Besides, “I have more books to write!”

Some of us, even as we make our way through her latest volume, can hardly wait for the next.

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Stir-Fried Spiced Pumpkin

This simple Bengali dish infuses pumpkin or other winter squash with layers of warming Indian spices and fiery heat. The skin is left on the squash, and it softens when cooking, adding texture and color to the dish. Eat as a side dish, or as a main course with flatbread or rice.

Save the seeds from the squash to roast for a savory snack.

Servings: 2-4 (makes about 2 cups)

Active time: 15 mins. Total time: 25 mins

Storage: Refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Where to buy: Panch phoron, a mix of whole spices, can be found in Indian or international markets, or online.

Substitutions

If you can’t find panch phoron >> omit, or combine a scant 1/4 teaspoon each of black mustard seeds, nigella seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and fennel seeds. To make it less spicy or not spicy at all >> omit the dried chiles and/or the chili powder. To add protein >> serve with pan-fried tofu or tempeh, or a chickpea dish, such as Chana Masala or Chole.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/4 pounds pumpkin, kabocha or other winter squash, washed but not peeled

2 tablespoons sunflower or other neutral oil

3 small dried red chiles, preferably Kashmiri

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon panch phoron (see Where to buy and Substitutions)

1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground chiles (preferably Kashmiri) or other chili powder

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon fine salt, plus more to taste

1 teaspoon homemade or store-bought garam masala

DIRECTIONS

Halve the pumpkin and remove the stem and seeds. Cut into 1-inch cubes.

In a large (12-inch) skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the dried chiles, bay leaf and panch phoron. As soon as the spices start to sizzle, add the ginger and cook, stirring, until very fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the pumpkin and cook, stirring, until lightly browned in spots, 3 to 4 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium. Add the sugar, ground chiles or chili powder, turmeric, coriander, cumin and salt. Stir to combine, then cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pumpkin is fork-tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Taste, and season with more salt as needed.

Remove from the heat and discard the bay leaf. Sprinkle the garam masala over the pumpkin, and serve hot.

Nutritional information per serving (1/2 cup, based on 4): 126 calories, 8 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 15 g carbohydrates, 305 mg sodium, 0 mg cholesterol, 3 g protein, 2 g fiber, 7 g sugar.

This analysis is an estimate based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian’s or nutritionist’s advice.

Adapted from “Romy Gill’s India” by Romy Gill (Quadrille, 2024).