This is my entry to Hive top chef.
I grew up in Ontario Canada and when we said pumpkin, we thought of Halloween. We thought only of carving out lanterns from them. Sometimes we thought about pumpkin pie.
It wasn't really until we went to Thailand and other Asian countries last winter, that we saw, what they called pumpkin, being used regularly for other things.
We didn't see the orange round ones that we grew up calling pumpkin.
I realize now that all of the rotting pumpkins, that were being thrown out after Halloween, could feed many people.
So today I am using what many people around the world call pumpkin, to make a curry.
Pumpkin is a type of squash and this particular one would be called a squash here in Canada but since this is a pumpkin post, I will say that it is pumpkin as if I were in another country.
I made this dish up, on the fly as I went along. I really don't cook with pumpkin or squash much. I don't know why.
I started with roasting the pumpkin. In the past I have always had it roasted with Christmas dinner or a winter dinner, at other people's houses. I really enjoyed it.
I cubed it and roasted it along with some onions.
At this point I still wasn't quite sure where I was going with this, and eventually decided to add some spice. I love spicy food of all kinds.
I happen to have picked up some habanero peppers the other day. These are used quite a bit in Caribbean cooking so that would be a start.
Don't worry, I only used one of those habanero peppers. You could substitute for jalapenos or other peppers. You could leave them out all together.
I also had nice fresh cilantro and tomatoes so this would have to be incorporated into the dish.
The spices I chose are used all over the world so at the end if you ask me what culture this dish would fit into, I would have to say, Caribbean, Mexican, Asian fusion.
I first cooked garlic in hot oil, and then added the spices.
Then I added the tomatoes.
I decided to throw in a can of coconut milk.
I had a bag of frozen corn so that was going in.
I felt with the corn it was going in another direction. Perhaps Mexican. A can of black beans in my cupboard waited to be used, so in it went.
Finally the star of the show along with a roasted onion sidekick, came on the stage.
It needed some greenery so I borrowed some fresh baby spinach from my smoothie supply.
I topped it with pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes, and avocado.
Pumpkin Curry
Eight cups pumpkin
3 onions
4 cloves garlic
1 cup corn
2 cups black beans
1 can coconut milk
1 cup fresh spinach
Juice of a lime
1 teaspoon sweetener optional (I used Maple syrup)
Spices
1 tsp roasted Cumin,
1 tsp roasted coriander
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp curry powder
Salt to taste
Have a good week everyone and I wish you all the best!