Vegetarian Pumpkin Curry Recipe

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Pumpkin is a great ingredient that gives rich creamy mouth feel without being fatty. This vegetarian pumpkin curry is creamy, slightly sweet yet spicy, full of Thai herbs and spices.

We cook a big pot so we can eat it for a few days, served with jasmine rice. The curry tastes better on the second day because the spices have marinated the pumpkin while the pumpkin dissolves a little to thicken and sweeten the curry sauce.

I'd recommend this vegetarian pumpkin curry to vegans as well.

4 Servings, Prep Time: 10 Minutes, Total Time: 20 Minutes

1 chili pepper
1 cup coconut milk
4-5 kaffir lime leaves
1 lb pumpkin
1/2 tablespoon salt
3-4 sprigs Thai basil
1 cup water
1-2 tablespoons Vegetarian Red Curry Paste

Tips and Techniques

Any yellow flesh pumpkin or winter squash will taste great in this curry. If you are making a big batch for a next few days, cut some pumpkin big and small, eat the small ones first. By the time you heat up for later days, the big ones will get smaller, dissloved and thickened the curry.
The pumpkin makes this curry thick and creamy, if you'd like to reduce the coconut milk, the curry will still be creamy.
In Thailand, we use sliced medium hot fresh chili pepper that is not available in the US. Jalapeno pepper would be a good substitute. Pick a red one for dramatic color. If you can't find any jalapeno, even thinly sliced bellpepper will bring out the aesthetic.

Method

Prepping

Slice along the inside to remove the pumpkin seeds. Peel the pumpkin. I find it easier to cut through pumpkin's hard skin by cutting them into smaller pieces first. Cut the pumpkin into 1 1/2 inch cubes. Pick basil leaves. Tear the kaffir lime leaves from the center stem. Julienne red chili pepper.

Cooking

Pour half of the coconut milk into a pot, over medium heat. Add the red curry paste and mix it well with coconut milk. If your mixture starts to splatter too much, turn down the heat. Stir to prevent the bottom from sticking and burning. When the reddish oil starts to form, stir to let the oil bring out the flavor and aroma in the spices.

Add the pumpkin and stir to coat pumpkin with curry sauce. Add the rest of coconut milk and water. Season with salt; start at 1/2 tablespoon and taste. Each curry paste has different salt content so you really need to taste it. Simmer until the pumpkin is soft, about 15 minutes.

Add sliced red pepper and kaffir lime leaves. Add Thai basil. Turn off the heat. Stir to submerge the basil in hot curry to keep the leaves bright green. The leaves will stay bright green for 10 minutes or so.

Tasting

Pumpkin curry should be creamy with a hint of natural sweetness from the pumpkin. The curry is very mild. The longer you simmer, the thicker the curry gets. It's another dish that tastes great the next day because the pumpkin has absorbed the spices and the flavor of the pumpkin has dissolved in the curry.

Serve hot with rice.

Recipe for vegetarian red curry paste