Ah, curry. There are so many ways to make this yummy dish: curry instant meal pouches, curry blocks with fresh vegetable, or the connoisseur’s route: mixing your own.
We are fortunate to have Sharon, the chief foodie officer at Yanzhi delicacies, to talk about their exclusive recipe for Indian pumpkin vegetables curry. (We heard it’s their staff meal! Envious~)
The trickiest part of this recipe is mixing your own spices. Now we say it’s tricky, but that’s mostly a mental barrier, because we’re not familiar with the spices. But once you learn their names and collect them in your pantry, it won’t seem difficult at all. On the contrary, you’ll fall in love with it!
What is your own impression of curry? Is it the curry blocks that your mother used to cook with? Is it a lazy one-pot meal with some chopped up chicken breast and potatoes to eat for a whole week—until you hate it?
After tasting a variety of curries, we finally learned that curry is too good to be a lazy meal. Curry made with assorted spices have rich flavors that come in layers, and leave a lasting impression on the palate. Sure, it’s still a huge one-pot meal you can eat for days, but it’s one you’ll enjoy from beginning to end. This is why regular lazy curry cannot be compared with gourmet homemade curry.
What is this Indian pumpkin veggie curry like?
There are three levels of taste to this pumpkin curry dish. The first is a base, with tastes of onions, pumpkin, garlic, ginger and cardamom—a firm, gentle layer of flavors. The second is where flavors dance, coming from all kinds of spices, turmeric and lentils. Last but not least, coriander and coconut milk will bring the flavors forward. In this recipe, coriander plays a big role! We’re using every part from its seeds to stems and leaves.
Let’s see how it’s made now!
Indian Pumpkin Curry recipe
Ingredients:
Base ingredients: Pumpkin (half of), 2 cups lentils, 1 onion, 2 tbsp. coconut oil
Base spices: ginger, garlic, cardamom, coriander root
Main spices: turmeric powder, yellow mustard powder, coriander seed, clove powder , cinnamon powder
Spices to taste: fresh cilantro leaves, chili powder, ground black pepper
Seasonings: sugar, salt, coconut milk
Directions:
1. Cut the pumpkin and onion into chunks. Separate the stems and the leaves of the coriander and cut into sections. Mash the base spices: ginger, garlic, cardamom and coriander roots. While doing this, cook lentils in 3 cups of water until cooked.
2. Heat coconut oil in pan and add the ginger, garlic, cardamom and coriander roots from step 1, until fragrant. Then, add onions.
3. Add the pumpkin chunks and a little bit of water to cook. (You can also soften the pumpkin by steaming it first.)
4. Add the main spices one by one, stirring evenly.
5. Add the cooked lentils to the pan, then add salt and sugar to taste. (Some pumpkins are sweet by itself so taste it before you add the sugar!)
6. Add coconut milk and stir evenly. Serve and sprinkle coriander leaves and other spices to taste. Ta-da!
Time to make your own!
A few words about curry
When we say curry, we often think about the mysterious mixture of spices from the far east India. However, technically speaking, curry is not an Indian dish, but an invention of the British. During the colonial periods of East India Company, British people living in India adapted to the custom of cooking with a rich selection of spices, and started trading spices. The first ad for Indian curry powder appeared on London’s Morning Post in 1784. Since then, Indian curry became the curry everyone knows of, and was spread to the rest of the world.
Reference: <<Stories of Food and Way of Cooking for Foodies>> by Ohmylife
Contributor: Yanzhi
Translation: Melissa
