Pumpkin Curry

When my husband went to the store recently, I told him to pick out a weird squash for me.  I wanted to cook with a new one and I wanted to be surprised!  My husband came home, announcing that he picked out a “gold hubbard.”  Something about the name of this squash makes it fun to say.

Inspired from the gold hubbard, my recent Indian kick, and this Smithsonian article, I decided to make pumpkin curry (although it’s not really pumpkin curry).  Most people have no idea what a gold hubbard squash is, but if I say its pumpkin, they understand my curry.  If you don’t want to use gold hubbard squash, you can easily substitute in butternut squash or even real pumpkin.

My husband was very skeptical of this dish while it was in the making (I’m sure any former meat and potato eater from South Jersey would be).  He imagined it to taste like a “spicy pumpkin pie mash.”  After his first bite of the pumpkin curry, he didn’t put down his spoon until his bowl was empty.  Afterwards, he rated the dish a 9.1 out of 10.  When my husband rates an archerfriendly dish this high, it’s got to be good.

The hardest part of this dish is cutting the gold hubbard.  For me, it was a nightmare.  It took over an hour to chop up the squash, and I almost broke my knife!  Next time, I will cook the squash whole in the oven for about 30 minutes.  Partially baking the squash will make it a lot easier to chop, saving the time you’d spend trying to hack it up raw.   This recipe is very easy and quick once you get the squash chopped!

Pumpkin Curry

Ingredients

• 1 Gold Hubbard Squash (or other large substitute), chopped in 1″ cubes
• spoonful of coconut oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 thumb-sized pieces of ginger, chopped
• 1/4 tsp garam masala
• 2 Tablespoons Muchi curry powder
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• fresh cilantro

Makes about 10 servings

1. Peel and chop squash into 1″ cubes.  It may be easier if you partially bake the whole squash for about 30 minutes at 350° before you chop it.
2. Sautè onion, garlic, and half of the ginger in a spoonful of coconut oil on low to medium heat (use a pan big enough to hold all the curry).  Cook until softened.
3. Whisk together the curry powder, honey, and coconut milk.  Pour the coconut milk mixture into the pan with the sauteed onion, garlic, and ginger.
4. Add the squash and remaining ginger.
5. Cook until squash is tender (about 30 minutes).
6. Add the garam masala and stir immediately before serving.
7. Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Serve over brown basmati rice.

Notes

• The honey can be omitted.  I usually do not sweeten savory dishes, but it felt right this time.  The honey really complemented the sweet flavor of the squash.
• One gold hubbard squash made a lot of curry!  I used the whole squash, which is why this recipe made about 10 servings.  Feel free to adjust accordingly if you don’t want so much curry.
•  Frontier makes fantastic Muchi curry powder.  Look for it in the bulk spice section of your local grocery store.  In the Seattle area, I’ve found Muchi curry powder at Whole Foods (but its very expensive there), Central Market, and TOP Food & Drug.
• It is important to use a fresh, good quality curry powder if you can not find Muchi curry powder.  Crappy curry powders ruin Indian food.
• You can add all the ginger in the beginning with the onions and garlic.  Adding half of it later creates a crisp ginger flavor.

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