Quick and easy pumpkin curry

It’s a sunny winter’s day, the kind that might make you think of Spring if it weren’t for the icy wind howling around the house. It’s the perfect day to cook up a quick pumpkin curry and curl up on the couch with the cat and a good book (who am I kidding, Netflix it is). 

The wonderful thing about pumpkins is that they are planted in Spring, grow prolifically through Summer, are harvested in Autumn and will store beautifully right through Winter to be cooked up in an array of comforting meals. 

Once the fear of frost has passed, find a sunny spot and sow a couple of seeds direct into a pile of really good soil, enriched with compost or old manure. If both seeds germinate and emerge as little seedlings, pull out the weaker of the two. You need a bit of space to grow a pumpkin plant but they will grow beautifully up a fence or trellis if you don’t have a decent patch of ground.

March 2016...

...April 2016

If left untamed, the pumpkin plant will happily rampage across the yard, with glorious large flowers that bees love. You can pick (and cook) the flowers to reduce the number of pumpkins so the plant can focus its energy on the few you keep – I didn’t last summer and got 13 beautiful large pumpkins from two plants. Harvest the pumpkins around the time of the first frost, keeping several centimetres of stalk attached to the pumpkin, which will help them last longer. 

There’s a slight trick to this pumpkin curry – cook it until the pumpkin is tender, then for a few minutes more but without turning the pumpkin to mush. This really enhances the sauce, as it caramelises a little, giving it almost a satay flavour. You won’t need to add much (or any) salt because of the lovely savoury flavour provided by the spices. An alternative to the coconut cream and stock is to just use ¾ cup of coconut milk instead. The curry goes great with rice but the nuttiness of quinoa (cooked in equal parts coconut cream and water) really complements the creaminess of the curry. 

Pumpkin curry

Makes 2 serves

1 tsp chilli powder, or 1 small fresh chilli

1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 bay leaf

1 tbs avocado oil or another vegetable oil

350g pumpkin

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

1/2 cup coconut cream

1/4 cup vegie stock

Nutmeg and parsley to garnish

Dry fry your ground spices and bay leaf in a medium saucepan over a moderate heat for 30 seconds, then add the oil, the pumpkin and the ginger and stir for a few minutes. Add the coconut cream and stock, cover and gently simmer for 15 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender. Season to taste and remove the bay leaf. Garnish the curry with a sprinkle of finely chopped parsley and a little freshly grated nutmeg and serve.