Pumpkin Curry
-Sri Lankan Style
1/2 a kent or japanese pumpkin - chopped into 1 inch cubes
1 brown onion - sliced
4 cloves of garlic - crushed
1 teaspoon of dry red chilli flakes (or a couple of fresh chillies)
2 tablespoons coconut milk
2 teaspoons fenugreek seeds
1 stick of cinnamon - broken into pieces (or replace with ground cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
handful of curry leaves
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon dark roasted curry powder (see link)
1/2 teaspoon of sugar - may not be necessary if the pumpkin itself is quite sweet
tablespoon of desiccated coconut
salt to taste
Place the pumpkin, onion, garlic, chilli, fenugreek seeds, sugar, cinnamon, +/- curry powder in a pot with a lid. Add only an inch of water - the pumpkin tends to release water as it is cooked. Cover with a lid and simmer until the pumpkin softens. You may need to turn the skin side of the pumpkin pieces so that they are immersed in liquid to get them to soften.
With a mortar and pestle grind the dessicated coconut and mustard seeds together and add to the pot. Stir in. Taste test and add salt.
When the pumpkin is soft add the curry leaves and coconut milk. Stir. Taste and add further salt and chilli if necessary.
A variation of this recipe is to fry all the ingredients(except the coconut milk and sugar) in a tablespoon of oil prior to adding the pumpkin; then to continue as before. This does give a richer flavour, but adds some unnecessary fat to the dish.
Best eaten with rice.
