MMC: Emerald's Thai Pumpkin Curry

[OSC]

Story: I rarely eat in restaurants any more because the food is usually not organic and restaurants cut a lot of corners to keep their costs down, including bad oils. Asian restaurants especially add sugar to just about everything which is undoubtedly the bad GMO sugar that I never eat. Restaurant eating is now only for socializing occasionally. And I have some favorite dishes that I always order when I eat out. Pumpkin curry is one of my favorites.

I grow pumpkins and grew several beauties last year. So I decided that my pumpkins should be elevated to the highest status by making this favorite dish. My first attempt was a disaster so several more attempts were made using store-bought butternut squash. Then I finally got it down and made one with my own pumpkin. Bliss! I am now devoting an entire section of my garden to pumpkins because I will be making a lot of these delicious curries.

After finally getting a successful batch I could tell how much sugar the restaurants use in this dish. I thought about adding stevia or coconut sugar to get mine to taste like the restaurant version. But then I decided that mine is better. I don't need my food to have sugar in it. My pumpkin curry is divine. It doesn't need anything else! You can experiment with different veggies, but the bok choy, just as I described, came out the best. Bok choy is an extremely nutritious vegetable that I use a lot in my cooking. I will probably make it just like this most of the time.

Here is my recipe.

Medium pot with a tight lid. Choose a heavy pot such as enamel coated cast iron.

One small pumpkin (such as Sugar Pie), regular-sized butternut squash, or similar winter squash

One large or medium onion, any kind

One can of coconut milk (such as Native Forest brand organic, unsweetened "Classic", available at Oliver's, Whole Foods, and Community Market)

One pound of bok choy (approximately 6 baby bok choys)

2 teaspoons of Thai chili paste such as Mekhala organic red (for hot) or yellow (for mild)

1/2 tablespoon (to your taste) basil, Thai basil, or similar herb, fresh or dried

Coconut aminos, garlic coconut aminos (such as Coconut Secret), and either fish sauce (such as Red Boat) or vegan fish sauce alternative (use a splash of all three before serving)

Olive oil or other oil to saute the veggies

Peel the pumpkin or squash with a vegetable peeler.

Cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds, and set them aside for something else.

Cut the pumpkin into 1-2" cubes.

Put a steamer basket in the pot, fill with water to just below the basket, and steam the pumpkin until fork tender. (Or use whatever type of steamer you have,)

Put the cooked pumpkin and remaining water aside. Remove the steamer.

Saute the chopped onion with the chili paste and basil with some good olive oil (such as Bragg's), coconut oil (such as Dr. Bronner's) or avocado oil (such as Nutiva organic), on medium low heat.

When the onion is transparent, add the chopped bok choy, chopped in large pieces to keep the green tops whole. Saute the bok choy until cooked.

Add the coconut milk and let simmer for a few minutes to combine the flavors.

Gently fold in the cooked pumpkin along with the steaming water. (Be gentle with the pumpkin so that it doesn't get mashed.)

Simmer a few more minutes to combine the flavors.

Add a large splash of coconut aminos, a medium splash of garlic aminos, and a small splash of fish sauce. This will add saltiness and depth to the flavors. Cover and simmer gently for about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for a few minutes for the flavors to blend.

If you make it hot you will probably want to eat it with some rice. Two level, measured teaspoons of red chili paste will make it hot, but not too hot if you eat it with rice (or quinoa). Don't exceed that amount of chili paste the first time you make it. I will be making it next for someone who doesn't like it hot so I will use the same amount of yellow chili paste for a milder but tasty spice.

I ate mine about half and half with brown rice. I wanted to treasure this successful creation by saving a serving in the freezer. In a quart-sized glass storage bowl, I filled it half with cooked brown rice and half with pumpkin curry. This will likely freeze well for a special treat another time.

That is also how I reheated it. I only reheat the serving I am going to eat. I put it in a glass oven bowl with curry over rice, and heated it on 350 for 15 minutes.

While I was still experimenting with the recipe, I used some baked pumpkin that I had frozen in the freezer and that worked well for a similar curry but that was a pumpkin soup. All experiments with baked pumpkin came out soft like soup. You could get the same result with canned pumpkin.

I used dried basil from my garden. One batch had my lemon basil that I grew and that was nice. I will be growing Thai basil for this. I've seen recipes that call for lemongrass but I don't know how to use that. I will be experimenting with that as well. But this recipe is perfect just like this.

Let me know if you make this and if you have any suggestions.

Love,

Emerald