Tuesday 24 January 2012

Sri Lankan Pumpkin Curry

A Sri Lankan friend made this curry for us the other night - it was so tasty I asked for the recipe. Today, I decided to make it to accompany a fish curry that my boyfriend announced he was going to make. Actually, he came up to me this morning and said, “Tonight, I am going to attempt to make one of the most fiery fish curries ever." Knowing his obsession with chilies, I was sure he would put in about 20 chilies, a heap of chili powder, and anything else spicy he could think of. In the event, he used 12 fresh green Thai chilies and 10 teaspoons of his special, home-ground dried red Sichuan chili pepper flakes (see upcoming story about these).  

The curry did not disappoint; it was frikin hot, the bf turned a bit red and made strange faces while eating it. The smooth, creamy texture and nutty, sweet taste of the pumpkin and coconut matched wonderfully with the fiery heat of the fish curry. Also, several spoonfuls of cooling raita helped everything go down smoothly.


serves 2, prep 15 min, cook 20 min
700g fresh pumpkin
1/4 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 fresh red chili peppers
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
10 fresh curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 Tablespoons olive oil

1. Peel and seed pumpkin; cut into 2 cm (1 inch) pieces. 

2. Dice onion, slice garlic and chili peppers. 

3. In a saucepan combine pumpkin, onion, garlic, chili peppers, chili powder, curry powder, turmeric, mustard seeds, curry leaves, salt and water.  

4. Let simmer for 10 minutes, then add coconut milk and olive oil and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve with white rice, raita and poppadoms.

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