Peter Kuruvita’s pumpkin curry

Name: Peter Kuruvita’s pumpkin curry
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Sri Lankan
Ingredients: 2 small Indian green chillies, chopped; 1 teaspoon ground turmeric; 1 teaspoon green cardamom pods; 2 teaspoons ground coriander; 100 g (3½ oz) freshly grated coconut, or desiccated coconut; 4 garlic cloves, peeled; 1 litre (35 fl oz/4 cups) coconut milk; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) Japanese or Kent pumpkin, washed well; 2½ tablespoons coconut cream; 1 tablespoon brown mustard seeds; 1 tablespoon Dark roasted curry powder; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 1 fresh curry leaf sprig, leaves picked; 2 teaspoons ground cumin; ½ cinnamon stick; 2 cm (¾ inch) knob of fresh ginger, peeled; 100 g (3½ oz/½ cup) long-grain white rice; Coconut sambal, to serve

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
50 min

Appears in

Lands of the Curry Leaf

By Peter Kuruvita

Published 2018

About

My dad’s favourite curry, this dish is so tasty and easy to prepare. Serve it with roti and coconut sambal, or with another curry; the Ridged gourd curry is ideal as they are different colours.

The coconut rice powder can be used in any curry, to thicken it and enrich the flavour.

Ingredients

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) Japanese or Kent pumpkin, washed well

Asia
Sri Lanka
Main course
Gluten-free
Spicy
Vegetarian

Method

For the coconut rice powder, dry-roast all the ingredients in a frying pan over medium heat until the rice and coconut have turned dark brown, stirring regularly so the coconut doesn’t burn. Remove from the heat, allow to cool, then grind to a powder using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Set aside.

Place all the mustard paste ingredients in a blender. Add