This Sri Lankan Creamy Pumpkin Curry is currently one of my all time favourites.
Pumpkins evoke childhood memories for me. Growing up, every few years I’d visit my relatives in Germany. They grew the biggest pumpkins I’d ever seen and me and my cousins took turns getting photos taken of us sitting on them. Quickly my nickname in the family became ‘poosanikai’ which means pumpkin in tamil. It’s funny because I don’t actually remember ever eating them – I was never a huge fan of pumpkin dishes as a child.
This changed when my mum made me this creamy Pumpkin Curry. The combination of spices and the melt in the mouth creaminess of the pumpkin is something that has me making this dish time and time again.
You can enjoy this on it’s own as a one pot dinner too. Just add in any other extra vegetables of your choice. Things like green peas, spinach, broccoli and courgette all work perfectly. Add them in with the coconut cream and use more cream if necessary.
If you try this recipe out, be sure to tag me using #thebellephant on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. Don’t forget to follow me to keep up to date on my latest recipes.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 onion, finely diced
- Handful of curry leaves
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 3 green chillies, roughly chopped
- 1kg pumpkin (quarter)
- 200ml water
- Salt to taste
- 100ml coconut cream
- Handful of coriander leaves, chopped
Instructions
- Skin and dice the pumpkin into roughly 2cm cubes.
- Heat the coconut oil in a saucepan.
- Fry the cumin and mustard seeds for around 30 seconds until you hear them start to pop.
- Add the onions and curry leaves. Sauté for a few minutes until the onions soften and brown.
- Add the turmeric, garlic, chillies, pumpkin, water and salt to taste. Bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure even cooking.
- Mix through the coconut cream then cover and simmer for a further 10 minutes until the pumpkin is fully cooked.
- Serve with chopped coriander sprinkled on top.
