Pumpkin curry from Sri Lanka

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g pumpkin(s) with thin skin, e.g. butternut
• ½ m.-sized onion(s), cut into 1/2 slices
• 4 garlic cloves, cut into fine strips
• 15 curry leaves (Kari), fresh or 5 dried
• 15 cm pandan leaf, cut into small pieces, removing the midrib beforehand
• 1 chili pepper(s), green, finely chopped
• 4 cm cinnamon stick(s)
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 ¼ tsp curry powder, unroasted
• ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 ½ tsp black mustard seeds, crushed
• ½ tsp black pepper, ground
• ½ tsp salt
• 200 ml coconut milk, thin
• 125 ml coconut milk, thick
• ½ tsp sugar

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 45 minutes

vegan

Wash the pumpkin and cut it, including the skin, into 3-4 cm cubes. Butternut or Hokkaido pumpkins are best for this. If you remove the skin, you have to be careful not to let the cubes fall apart during cooking. Place it in a pot with all the other ingredients, from onion to salt, pour in the thin coconut milk, and cook in a covered pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally. You can get thin coconut milk, for example, by mixing 100 ml of thick milk with 100 ml of water. The pumpkin should be cooked through, but still have a bit of a bite. This takes about 15-20 minutes. Stir in the thick coconut milk, add the sugar, and let it simmer in an uncovered pot for 2-3 minutes. Rice goes well with it. In Sri Lanka, milk is made from fresh coconuts. If anyone wants to try it: Finely grate fresh coconut flesh and then knead it with a little more than the same amount of water until a creamy white liquid forms. This is thick coconut milk. Drain, then repeat the process; this will produce thin coconut milk. You can repeat this 3-4 times, but only the first infusion will be thick. I simply use canned coconut milk without any thickener and then dilute it 50:50 with water. It works great, too. Kari leaves and pandan leaves can be found in the refrigerated section of well-stocked Asian stores, as can all the other spices. The unroasted curry powder can easily be replaced with the readily available “regular” curry powder. This delicious recipe comes from a cooking class on the south coast of Sri Lanka. It’s vegan and can be prepared very mild or spicy.