Prawn and pumpkin curry

In my household, when summer fades, the pumpkin recipes come out. If you’ve never cooked with pumpkin before, don’t be scared! It’s so full of flavour and a perfect addition to a gluten-free or dairy-free diet. It’s also very healthy and nutritious, and low enough in calories that I used it quite often when I was on the fast (5:2) diet.

I honestly just love PUMPKIN SEASON! I never really ate it until a few years ago, but it’s a highly underrated food here in Europe. I know Americans go nuts for pumpkin, and with good reason. It can be baked into pumpkin pies, pumpkin breads, pumpkin cookies and so on, but this year I have decided not to gain masses of weight for no reason so I’ll be taking the healthy approach – using it in savoury dishes!

The pumpkins available over here look to be a different variety than you find in the UK – but they are equally cute and equally lekker as the Dutch would say. My only gripe with pumpkins is that they are such a pain to prepare. I have a pretty sharp set of knives, and I invariably end up swearing at the poor defenceless pumpkin. But since they are only available for a short time, I suffer through the sawing, gritting my teeth, until it is cut up and I am ready to cook. I much prefer pumpkins to their butternut squash cousins as they have a much softer texture when cooked, and a bit of a sweeter flavour.

This recipe is something I like to throw together on a chilly day. Don’t worry too much about quantities or the additional veg, you can substitute the red pepper and courgette for whatever you like really! It’s a good dish for using up bits and pieces of leftover veg in the fridge. This recipe makes 2 generous servings, so you may have a portion of leftovers to heat up for lunch the next day!

As always, the amount of curry paste you put in is entirely up to you. I always recommend tasting it first to see how hot it really is. Supermarket curry pastes tend to be less hot than ones bought from Asian shops. I have also tried this dish with red and with green curry paste, so it’s up to you as to which you prefer.

If it’s a very hot paste, use about 1/2-1 tsp. If it’s a bit milder, use 1-2 tbsp. Remember, you can always add half at the beginning, taste it later on, and add more if you think it’s necessary.

Eet smakelijk!