It’s autumn and there are pumpkins everywhere. I love Thai red curry, so this is something similar to that. You don’t have to add MSG, but you’re missing out if you don’t (you can get it in Asian supermarkets).
Ingredients
Serves 8
- 4 small Hokkaido pumpkins (~1.5kg), peeled and cubed 1.5cm
- 2tbsp vegetable oil
- Red curry paste (below)
- 4 400g tins coconut milk
- 400g mushrooms, halved or quartered if they are too big
- 500g potatoes, peeled and cubed 1.5cm
- 6 shallots, quartered
- 4 Tbsp fish sauce (to taste)
- Juice of 2-3 limes (zest for paste)
- 3-4 Tbsp raw sugar
- 30 leaves Thai basil (or substitute basil)
- 3 red peppers, julienned
- 4 kaffir lime leaves (if you can find them)
- 8 cardamom pods
- 8 star anise
- 1tsp MSG
Red Curry Paste (this can be made in advance)
- 1 tsp white peppercorns
- 2 tsp coarse sea salt
- 16 small red chilies, seeded (not too spicy), sliced
- 4 lemongrass shoots finely diced
- Zest of two limes
- 8 cloves garlic chopped
- 100g ginger, finely diced
- 10 coriander stems, sliced
- 8 shallots, finely sliced
Instructions
Heat oven to 200C.
Halve the pumpkins, scoop out and discard the seeds. Peel and dice into roughly 1.5cm cubes. Cover with oil, spread out on oiled foil on a baking tray and roast until starting to char (around 40 minutes). Move them around occasionally to try to stop them sticking and get even an even roast.
Make the red curry paste by grinding everything together in a pestle & mortar (or food processor if that feels like too much). Add one or two ingredients at a time, in the order above. If your mortar gets full, empty it into a bowl and carry on with the other ingredients.
Add 2tbsp vegetable oil to a large pan (that’ll hold all the ingredients), add the curry paste and fry for 5 to 10 minutes.
Add half a can of coconut milk and stir to combine the paste, then stir in the rest.
Add 2tbsp of the fish sauce and all the other ingredients. Add the roast pumpkin once it’s ready. Let it bubble away for 30 minutes until the potato is cooked. Don’t stir too much, and don’t worry if things start to disintegrate. Add some boiling water if it gets too thick.
Remove from heat, taste and adjust seasoning with the remaining fish sauce (salt), additional palm sugar (sweet) and lime (sour) as needed. Stir in Thai basil. Serve on it’s own, or with jasmine rice.
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