Pumpkin Curry

This curry is the perfect meal to warm your spirit during the cold weather months. We had a couple mini pumpkins around the house used for decorating, and incorporated them in this dish. How functional! We used the crock pot for this one to let the spices marry and produce maximum flavor, but this could be done in a stock pot on the stove as well. You could also sub potato, butternut squash, or even cauliflower if pumpkin isn't your thing.

Ingredients

Curry

2 small pumpkins (commonly called sugar pumpkins)
1 14 oz. can lite coconut milk
2 cups baby carrots, halved
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 heaping tablespoon red curry paste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Juice of 1 lime
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons black pepper

Rice

2 cups jasmine rice
3 1/2 cups chicken stock


Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°. On a sturdy cutting board, remove the stem of two pumpkins, and slice pumpkins lengthwise. Dispose of pumpkin seeds and strings. Cut each half again lengthwise, and place the eight pieces of pumpkin on two baking sheets. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast pumpkin in the oven for 45 min, or until pumpkin is soft when pierced with a fork.

Meanwhile, prepare the curry. In a medium sized skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Once hot, add 1 teaspoon salt, onion, carrots, half of the cilantro, and soy sauce. Saute until onions are translucent. Then, add garlic and simmer for another minute.

Transfer vegetable mixture to crock pot on "low" setting. Add a small part of the chicken stock to the skillet, and scrape the sides of the skillet, obtaining all vegetable pieces. Then, transfer all chicken stock to the crock pot.

Next, add coconut milk, red curry paste, fish sauce, turmeric, red pepper flakes, chili powder, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Stir and cover with lid. By this time, your pumpkin should be ready to cube.

Remove pumpkin from oven, and transfer to a cutting board. The pumpkin skin should be soft, and easy to peel off. If not, you can help it along with a knife. Cut pumpkin into 1" cubes. If you slacked on removing the pumpkin strings in the first step, you can cut them off here as well. Add pumpkin to the pot, and cover with lid.

Simmer on low for 3-4 hours. Remember to taste the curry, adding more of the ingredients depending on how salty, spicy, creamy, or tangy you desire your curry to be.

Prepare jasmine rice according to package, but cook rice with chicken stock (not water).

Serve curry over rice, and top with fresh cilantro.